A DRUG addict smashed his way into a Post Office while still on licence after being released from jail for previous burglaries.

Anthony Black tried to steal cigarettes from the branch in Preston Drove, Brighton, on January 25.

He cut his hand smashing glass on the door as he tried to get in- then when arrested at the scene lamented “the things I do for drugs”.

On Monday Black was jailed for five months for the burglary and assaulting a police officer after his arrest.

Jonathan Atkinson, prosecuting, told Lewes Crown Court: “CCTV showed he had tried to break in through the front door at about 5.20am.

“He initially hadn’t been able to get in.

“He walked away then came back and made a hole in the glass.

“The police arrived as he was coming out of the property with a sock on one hand and he was bleeding from that hand.

“The other sock was found inside.

“He was taken to hospital for treatment and made comments at the scene saying ‘the things I do for drugs. I was just walking past and i though, f*** it, I’ll do it’.”

While being searched in police custody Black pushed an officer backwards.

The court was told Black was on licence at the time after being jailed for two other burglaries last May in which he stole more than £600 worth of cigarettes from a convenience store and £3,000 worth of phones and £2,000 cash from a phone shop.

He has 27 previous convictions for 55 offences.

He was living in temporary housing in Percival Terrace at the time of his most recent arrest but had lost since his home.

Judge Stephen Mooney said: “He pretty much made a full cough up at the scene.

“It would be catastrophic to release him today. He would walk out of here on to the streets.”

Sarah Thorne, defending Black, said he had been addicted to heroin and crack cocaine for many years and his lengthy offending history dated back to when he was a youth after a troubled childhood – but he had remained clean on remand.

Sentencing him to four months for the burglary and an extra month consecutive for the assault, Judge Mooney told Black: “My intention is to keep your sentence as short as possible.

“If you walked straight out of here today you would be back in front of me in no time.”