A Dover drug addict found a novel way to tackle his heroin problem... using a strawberry yoghurt drink.

The 34-year-old was so desperate to get help, he decided to walk into a service station in Limekiln Street in Dover.

Stephen Taylor then picked up a strawberry yoghurt costing £1 and told a startled cashier: "I am not paying for this. Can you please call the police? I want to be arrested.”

Then he calmly drank the Yop drinking yoghurt and waited until police officers arrived and took him inside.

“He is a man with an historic problem with street drugs including heroin. But he wants now to break the cycle which took him into prison, back onto the streets, back on drugs and then back to prison” - Phil Rowley, defending

Prosecutor Antony Hook told Canterbury Crown Court that the serial thief – with more than 100 convictions to his name – explained he wanted to escape his life of drugs.

And the only place he could be sure of getting treatment was inside prison..and to his delight he was remanded in custody.

But the prosecutor explained the theft was carried out in breach of an 18 month suspended prison sentence for a botched raid on another petrol station in London Road Deal.

Taylor, who is now homeless, pleaded guilty to the yoghurt theft but his lawyer pleaded with a judge not to activate the suspended sentence.

Phil Rowley, defending, explained that in August Taylor was so desperate for help that his mother had rang the local probation service for advice.

They suggested he talk to his GP or go to hospital or to Turning Point, a charity which helps people with addiction, or even alert the mental health team after hearing he had threatened to harm or kill himself.

Instead, Taylor decided the best way was to get help was to get himself arrested and go to prison to beat his habit.

Mr Rowley said: “He is a man with an historic problem with street drugs including heroin. But he wants now to break the cycle which took him into prison, back onto the streets, back on drugs and then back to prison.”

He said that in August Taylor’s mother phone the probation service and said her son was taking heroin and wasn't very well.

But Taylor ignored the advice and decided to get himself arrested and has spent the past two and a half months in custody getting himself off drugs

“He is now clean on both prescription and non prescription drugs and perhaps for the first time is best placed to face the rigours of life on the outside without the support of heroin.”

Mr Rowley added that Taylor was so determined to avoid returning to drugs he has dumped his partner and plans not to go back to Dover, Deal or Folkestone when he is released from jail.

“He wants to get away from all his old influences and plans to move to the west of the county to start a new life," he added.

Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl decided not to implement the suspended jail sentence and passed a two month term for the theft – which would result in Taylor being released immediately.

He told him: “Its now on your shoulders because if you come back before this court again you will not get another chance.”