A BUNGLING thief who stole an empty aftershave box and broke his ankle trying to evade police after another theft escaped a prison sentence on Thursday.

Shaun Robert Green, 28, of Gigant Street, Salisbury, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft when he appeared before the city’s magistrates.

The court heard that on January 26 he tried to steal a Makita drill from B&Q by throwing it over the fence in the yard so he could later go and pick it up.

But staff became aware of what he was doing and locked him in the yard until the police arrived.

Green tried to climb over the fence to escape but the razor wire caused him to fall and he suffered a compound fracture to his ankle and had to spend several weeks in Salisbury District Hospital.

On April 4 he took a box of aftershave from the city’s Debenhams store and hid it in his pocket, only to later discover the box was empty.

Nick Redhead, defending, said: “He’s an affable man but a spectacularly incompetent thief. He’s not in work at the moment and receiving income support but is looking to get incapacity benefit due to ongoing problems with his ankle.”

The magistrates said the value of the items wasn’t great but that the offences came on top of a long record of previous relevant convictions and Green was in breach of a conditional discharge.

They sentenced him to a six-month community order with supervision.