A PROLIFIC offender, branded “a recidivist”, left a trail of damage in a pub after breaking in and helping himself to drink several hours after closing time one night.

Alan Clarke, who had also taken cocaine, was so much worse for wear that he could not be interviewed for many hours after his arrest at the scene, at Chaplin’s, in Sunderland city centre.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that the heavily convicted burglar used a brick to smash his way into the Stockton Road premises via a window at 4am on July 19.

Matthew Collins, prosecuting, said, being a Sunday morning, it followed a busy Saturday night when takings were at their highest, shortly after the pub reopened post-lockdown.

Mr Collins said Clarke spent, “a considerable time”, consuming bottles of spirits, making an untidy search round the bar area and the rest of the premises.

He took the float left in two damaged till trays and tipped over a gaming machine, making desperate attempts to prise it open using a stool.

The pub’s security system alerted a member of staff to the break-in via his phone and the police were informed.

“They arrived to find him still there and in a state of intoxication, at 6am.”

When he was searched he had a small bag of cocaine and a craft knife blade.

His after-hours visit left £4,375 worth of damage round the pub, including to a “sneeze screen”, only recently installed as a safety measure for staff.

Clarke admitted burglary, possession of both a bladed article and cocaine.

The court was told the 45-year-old defendant, of no fixed abode, has 18 non-dwelling burglaries on his record featuring 77 convictions for 183 offences, and has served 20-week and 10-week sentences for commercial break-ins earlier this year.

Jamie Adams, for Clarke, said: “He has a terrible record.

“It’s so easy to throw in every negative feature against a man like this and find no positive features at all.

“It’s an unhappy state of affairs he’s brought about all by himself. He’s responsible for the way he is.”

“he’s a man who, from the age of 15, has been addicted to substances of one sort or another, addicted to drink and drugs.

“He’s a chronic addict, living like a recidivist.”

But Mr Adams said the Probation Service has worked recently to try to find him his own accommodation away from the hostels he has inhabited when not behind bars.

“He was just showing signs of doing something positive in his life before this.”

Imposing a two-year prison sentence, Recorder Michael Fanning told Clarke: “You seem to regard other people’s premises as yours to steal from at will.

“I recognise you have been dealt an unfair hand in life but you are a prolific offender and I don’t see any realistic prospect of rehabilitation at this stage.”