THIEF targeted Belfast city centre retailers in a "whirlwind of offending" after he started using so-called legal highs, a court has heard.
Alan Crone was jailed for three months yesterday after admitting a shoplifting spree where clothes, food, cook-ware were all stolen.
The 30-year-old, with an address at Curran Road in Larne, Co Antrim, admitted four counts of theft, a further attempted theft and two charges of going equipped.
His raids were carried out on shops between June and August.
In one instance he stole a shirt and tried to take a jacket from a Superdry outlet.
He also walked out of TK Maxx with pots valued at £100.
A further raid involved nearly £25 worth of groceries from Dunnes Stores, while a final theft related to a protein drink taken from a shop on Ann Street.
Crone was charged separately with possession of class-C drugs after being found with suspected diazapam at Botanic Gardens, in the south of the city, in August.
He told police he had purchased them over the internet.
A defence solicitor told Belfast Magistrates Court that Crone's stealing was linked to a "downward spiral" of drug taking.
"He seemed to get involved in legal highs. That seems to have sent him on this whirlwind of offending," the solicitor said.
But imposing a total of three months in jail, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: "He has just taken himself on a complete spree as far as these offences are concerned."