A recovering heroin addict who stole four frying pans from BHS pretended he was helping an elderly friend carry them home.

Iqbal Miah, 30, stuffed four frying pans worth £96 from British Home Stores in Eden Walk into carrier bags on June 17, but was spotted leaving the store, Kingston Magistrates’ Court heard this week.

At first he tried to pretend he had met an elderly friend and was helping for her but when confronted with CCTV footage of his theft, he admitted what he had done.

He was arrested again on Monday, August 19, for stealing £98 of meat from Waitrose, which he had planned to sell for money to fund his heroin addict.

Defending him, Mike Nicholson said there had been a delay in the help he was receiving when he moved to Kingston from his parents’ home in West Molesey, but he was now getting methadone from Kingston drug charity Kaleidoscope.

He said: “It is a long and winding road to recovery and there’s blips along the way.

“He was walking from the YMCA to Kaleidoscope, as he does every morning. He is well aware he has got to stay out of shops as there’s that temptation always.

“He did find a £20 note on the floor.

"It turned out it was a counterfeit note in fact. He decided as he found the £20 and considered it his lucky day he would treat himself with something to eat.

“He looked around inside and saw there wasn’t much security around. He’s done this kind of thing time and time before and the urge came on to steal the meat.”

Miah had begun “dabbling” at the age of 18 but when his child died of meningitis in 2002, leading to the breakdown of his marriage, his drug habit began in earnest.

Miah pleaded guilty to the offences.

Magistrates said before they decided his sentence, which could include prison time, they wanted to know how his drug rehabilitation was going.

The hearing was adjourned to September 8 at 2pm.

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