A HOMELESS drug addict who targeted a string of Witham businesses has been sentenced to 11 months in jail and given a stringent community order.

Sonny Totham, 49, was sentenced at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Friday after admitting five counts of burglary on businesses in Witham during August and September.

He also admitted one count of criminal damage on October 17 where he broke his community order and smashed the window of Feathers hairdressers in Witham – after which he rang police to hand himself in.

The court heard Totham, who targeted Cabello hair and beauty salon, Prezzo, Hold the Anchovies, Iceland and Feathers, had wasted two last chances offered to him by the courts.

Levent Kemal, mitigating, said: “He does have mental health issues and he is misusing drugs, in addition to that being homeless he is in very difficult circumstances.

“He has accepted full responsibility or his offences which is shown by him pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

"He has let himself down as he was given one opportunity and he accepts the consequences.”

Totham was sentenced to four months in jail for the five burglaries, and one month for the criminal damage, to run concurrently.

For breaching his existing Community Behaviour Order, Totham received six months and an extra month for breaching the terms of this and committing the criminal damage, to run consecutively.

District Judge John Woollard, said: “I had already put a community order in place but then ten days later you were back for a further case.

“I then deferred sentence to see if there was one last opportunity to see whether or not you could help yourself but that did not work because you went back to damage the same window of the same shop.

"Your offending has a serious effect, not just on chains but on independent businesses that are trying to make their way in an area that is not that well off.

“Any attempt to deal with you in the community has failed completely and the only way to deal with you is by putting a custodial sentence.”

Totham was also put under a five-year community order where he cannot dispose of needles that could harm the public, sleep in doorways or cause alarm or distress to the public. He must leave any premises when asked to by staff or the police.

A bid to ban Totham from most of the Braintree district was rejected.