A thief who went on a stealing spree threatened to harm a worker when he was caught mid-act.

Darren Gooding went into the Co-op store in Westgate-on-Sea on at least five occasions and took large quantities of meat and cheese worth almost £1,500 from chiller aisles.

The 40-year-old appeared before magistrates in Margate on August 7, when he admitted five counts of shoplifting and one common assault.

While in the dock he told magistrates he committed the crimes as he was pressured by others to pilfer to buy drugs.

Magistrates heard Gooding, who is from the Thanet area but gave an address as Rolle Street, Exmouth, stole from the Westgate shop five times between April 20 and June 6.

The court was told on April 20, he stole £276.50 of meat and cheese and then on May 2, went back in to steal more and walked out with £161.80 worth.

Then just the next day he was back and took £480.90 of meat and cheese but not content with the haul, on June 1, he returned and looted another £343.70 worth from inside.

The bench also heard on June 6, he was caught in the act while trying to take £233.50 of cheese and meat.

Shop worker Phillip Wright tried to get the bag from Gooding, who then threatened to harm him if didn’t let him leave the shop with the swag.

Julie Farbrace, prosecuting, said: “His modus operandi is to go to the chiller section with a bag for life and fill it up and make no attempt to pay.

“In total, he stole £1,496.40 of items from the store.

“On June 6 he went into the Co-op and was seen by a staff member and the police were called but he refused to give the goods back and threatened to push him and kept filling up the bag and was told to stop, but left the store.

“He had previous convictions and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months in July 2022.”

Gemma Adams, mitigating for Gooding, told the court her client accepted the entire case and was previously addicted to drugs.

She suggested a pre-sentencing report would be helpful to find out more about her client before he was sentenced.

Ms Adams added: “He’s not taken any [drugs] for weeks and it [the stealing] was pressure from others in exchange for drugs, he’s on Universal Credit.”

Magistrates agreed to adjourn the case to allow a pre-sentencing report to be carried out on Gooding before he learns his fate.

He was granted bail and will be sentenced on October 2 at the same court.