Judge tells shoplifter caught stealing from Poundland and Lidl to get on top of his drugs problem

An Iraqi asylum seeker has won a fresh chance after shoplifting within days of facing court.

Barham Qadir must spend a year getting help from probation officers on top of six months treatment to beat drugs.

City magistrates also ordered him to pay £100 compensation to Poundland and the same amount to supermarket chain Lidl.

On July 11, he appeared before the court and was put on probation for six months. He has not yet been given a prescription which should help to wean him off drugs.

But the magistrates heard that he had not turned away from crime.

Presiding JP Alison Hopkinson said that he had come "very close" to being locked up.

"We don't give court orders for you to go out and do exactly what you have been given the order for the next day.

"Before you started this downward spiral, you were reasonably well behaved," Miss Hopkinson added.

Qadir, 30, of Whitemoor Road, Nottingham admitted theft of toiletries and laundry products from Tesco Express on August 7; theft food and alcohol worth £358 from Lidl 13 days later.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing shower gel worth £20 on May 30; toiletries valued at £40 on June 25; beauty products worth £60 on July 4; £90 worth of razors and toothbrushes on July 5; protein drinks worth £24 on July 9; Lynx shower gel worth £24 on July 11.

Sanjay Jerath, prosecuting, told the court: "Nothing has been recovered.

"As soon as he got a community order, he was out committing offences that day and two days after being bailed by the police.

"He was committing offences very quickly," added Mr Jerath.

Rob Keeble, mitigating, said that Qadir entered the UK in 2010 and is an Iraqi asylum seeker. The Home Office gives him £35 a week.

He had stayed out of trouble until he recently began to take drugs.

Mr Keeble told the court: "Since the end of last year, he became embroiled in this addiction and was committing offences of theft."

The anti-drugs treatment needed time to work, said Mr Keeble, who told the magistrates: "I urge you to give him every opportunity to get on top of the drugs problem.

"That would enable him to lead the law-abiding life he had for five years."

He said that the Home Office were still working on Qadir's case but said it was "being processed in a slow fashion."