Paul James, 33, is back behind bars again after being sentenced at Norwich Magistrates’ Court for another series of brazen thefts.

He also admitted four breaches of a court order banning him from numerous city centre shops and the Chantry Place shopping centre.

James admitted stealing from Tesco on London Street, one of the Norwich stores he is banned from entering (Image: Newsquest)

It came less than two weeks after he had been released from prison after serving a previous sentence for shop thefts.

READ MORE: Prolific shoplifter Paul James banned from Norwich stores

James, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to stealing alcohol from Tesco on London Street on April 14, and chocolate and other food items from Sainsbury's on Queens Road on April 14.

The court was told he had 122 previous convictions for 386 offences most of them involving thefts.

Most of his offences have been committed in Norwich but he has also admitted stealing from stores in Gorleston.

Last August he narrowly avoided a prison sentence after being found with a knife at the Co-Op at Norwich station.

But in November he was jailed for more than 20 thefts from branches of Tesco, Waitrose, the Co-Op and Specsavers.

The prolific shoplifter with 386 previous offences also stole from Sainsbury's on Queens Road (Image: Newsquest)

He was made subject of a three year criminal behaviour order banning him from dozens of stores across Norwich as well as Chantry Place and the Riverside and Cathedral retail parks.

Hannah Butler, prosecuting, said he had persistently breached this order over a short period of time.

READ MORE: Norwich station knifeman escapes mandatory jail sentence

Julie Adams, mitigating, said none of his latest thefts had involved violence or threats to staff and customers.

She said he had been in a “desperate situation” after being released from prison with no accommodation, no benefits and with an “entrenched drug dependency”.

Jailing him for 26 weeks, magistrates said he had a “substantial record of offending and wilfully failing to comply with community orders”.

He was told when released he would also be subject to a further 12 months of post-sentence supervision.