​Burglar Anthony Gordon wept as he was jailed for raiding his local Co-op store twice in ten days.

Gordon, of Westbury Road, Tuffley, admitted breaking into the Tuffley Co-op on April 2 last year – and again on April 12.

The 27-year-old was jailed for 12 months by Recorder Frank Privett at Gloucester Crown Court on Friday. Throughout the hearing Gordon wiped tears from his eyes as the court heard he had lapsed back into crime after going straight since 2003.

During that time he had found work, settled down with a partner and had three children, with a fourth on the way, said his solicitor Stephen Thomas.

But things went disastrously wrong for Gordon when he lost his work and returned to his old ways, abusing drugs and mixing with criminal friends, Mr Thomas said.

He told the court Gordon fell into drug debts and became a ‘hired hand’ in the burglary gang which raided the store.

Prosecutor Paul Cook said cigarettes were taken when the shop was burgled the first time. CCTV footage showed three men going into the shop, all wearing ‘distinctive footwear’.

Lucrative

Ten days later there was a much more determined and lucrative burglary, he said.

The rear door was forced and extensive damage was done to the security lights and fence as well as an internal door, Mr Cook said.

He said the damage cost £3,000 to repair and the value of cigarettes and other stock taken was £3,500. A one-tonne safe containing £20,500 in cash had been moved to a doorway but was not taken.

Mr Thomas told the court: “He has not been in trouble with the police since 2003. He got a job when he last came out of prison and that was a turning point in his life.

“He settled down, found a partner and they have had three children and there is a fourth child due in July. Unfortunately for him two years ago it went horribly wrong when he lost his job, met up with his old acquaintances and got quickly back into the same position he had been in back in 2001 when he was dependent on drink and drugs.”

Recorder Privett told Gordon: “There was a level of sophistication in the second burglary and a good deal of damage was caused.

“These were vulnerable community premises and you put other people’s jobs at hazard by what you did.”