A THIEF who was charged with more than 30 shoplifting raids during a two-year stealing spree while he was on seven bail orders has been offered a chance at rehabilitation rather than jail.

David Morrison has admitted 27 separate charges of theft from 12 shops in Greenock and Port Glasgow dating back to August 2021.

The 54-year-old had originally been accused of more shoplifting offences as well as an alleged attempted break-in and breaching further court orders.

Defence solicitor Edel McGinty told Greenock Sheriff Court that Morrison, of Dubbs Road in the Port, has been 'essentially stealing to live'.

She said: "He spends all his money on drugs then shoplifts to subsidise actual food.

"He has been trying to kick his habit, he has been for the last 18 months.

"He is essentially stealing to live."

Morrison was found to have stolen goods including alcohol, food items and meat from Aldi and Iceland in Port Glasgow and Tesco and Iceland in Greenock in August 2021.

He also stole a quantity of tools from B&Q in the Port in September that year, before targeting the town's M&S and Aldi again later the same year.

Meat products were taken from the Westburn Street Iceland on two separate occasions in December 2021, with meat and alcohol taken from Tesco Extra in Port Glasgow on Boxing Day.

Morrison shoplifted from The Range and B&M in February 2022, stealing meat and laundry items, before taking food and alcohol during four raids on Tesco and Aldi supermarkets in the area last July.

He also took food items from the Dubbs Road Co-op in Port Glasgow in December, gift sets from Superdrug, and more meat from Lidl in Greenock at the turn of the year.

According to court papers, the most recent offence occurred on January 10 this year when Morrison lifted alcohol from Aldi in the Port.

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He also breached a court undertaking not to enter an 'exclusion zone' - covering parts of Greenock and Port Glasgow - when he entered Tesco at the Port's Gallagher Retail Park.

On just half a dozen of the charges libelled against Morrison almost £200 worth of goods was taken - of which less than half was recovered.

The total value of his thefts is unconfirmed.

Lawyer Ms McGinty said her client has been put forward for the Phoenix Project, a residential rehab programme for people with addiction issues, in an attempt to 'deal with the root problem'.

Ms McGinty said: "My concern would be if he receives a custodial sentence that would take him off the list for the Phoenix Project and back down to the bottom.

"It is a one-year scheme.

"He would be rehoused elsewhere and would have support."

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Sheriff Michael Higgins told Morrison: "It does seem to me that it would be better for you but also the wider community if the root source of your offending is identified and addressed and eradicated.

"I do accept that you have been making efforts to identify the root of your problem.

"I don't intend to jeopardise the chance for you and the community to be free of your offending."

Morrison will remain under the supervision of the criminal justice social work department and a restriction of liberty order was imposed, meaning he must stay at home between 9pm and 7am each night for 120 days.

Sentence on other matters was deferred for two months for him to be of good behaviour.

The sheriff added: "If you don't take this opportunity you are facing a custodial sentence of quite some time."

Morrison will return to court on June 14.