A PROLIFIC thief caught shoplifting from the same Boots store nine times has been banned from a retail park for two years.

Police repeatedly arrested George Jonathan Hill, 22, after he targeted the Boots outlet on the Elk Retail Park in Holden Fold.

Hill stole at least £2,100 of products, mainly cosmetics, and occasionally razor blades, from the premises in just over three months, Manchester magistrates heard.

In one single day, April 28, he first walked out with cosmetics valued at £300 from the store, before returning to steal similar items, worth £240.

Hill was given a 42-week prison sentence by magistrates, which will be suspended for 24 months.

Magistrates ruled that the sentence was justified because of his previous criminal record and the nature and the seriousness of the many offences he had committed on this occasion.

One of the terms of his sentence is that he will be prohibited from entering the Elk Retail Park, in Broadway, for the next two years.

He must also undergo 19 days of a thinking skills programme, under the supervision of the probation service, and undergo 50 days of rehabilitation activtities.

Appearing in court via a live video link, Hill was also ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to Boots, at the rate of £10 per fortnight, from June 24 onwards.

The defendant, who gave two addresses to the authorities, one at Richmond Avenue in Royton and the other at Crossbank House, Manchester Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to nine offences of theft.

Three were in February, two were in March, two were in April and two were in May.

His largest haul was on May 1, when he took cosmetics worth £500 from the store.

An application for a criminal behaviour order, based on a theft and assault conviction dating back to December 16 last year, was withdrawn by the prosecution as part of the same proceedings.