A HEROIN addict who stole from a man he was staying with and sold the items at Cash Converters has been jailed for six months.

Dylan Priestley, 39, of no fixed address, admitted four thefts, one attempted theft and possession of class C drugs when he appeared before Newport Magistrates Court.

Ruth Hale, prosecuting, told District Judge Martin Brown that the owner of a green Land Rover, Stephen Halliwell was in a shop on Lower Dock Street in Newport on August 9 when his car alarm went off.

Outside the defendant was trying to push one of the car windows through with his foot and was chased by Mr Halliwell and his son into Asda, where he was detained.

Near the car a bag was found containing a mobile phone, a purse and two car stereos, and Priestley was found with 12 metazapine tablets which he said he'd bought from "a man in town".

His blood was also identified following the theft of a CD player from inside a Citroen Saxo belonging to Lisa Wood on Friars Road, Newport, on July 14.

A number of receipts from Cash Converters were found where Priestley had been staying and he admitted stealing a guitar, a grass trimmer, a £1,000 camcorder and a £100 push bike from Owen Pettit between June 25 and August 5.

Kate Lingley, mitigating, said Priestley hadn't offended between 2005 and 2013 after he went into Christian rehab and got married, working for the church for four years.

But treatment for hepatitis C left him depressed, she said, and he split with his wife and relapsed twice.

Judge Brown said stealing from the man who had offered him accommodation had been "a significant and substantial breach of trust" and described Priestley as a heroin addict.

He sentenced him to 26 weeks' jail for stealing the bike and camcorder, as well as 12 weeks' jail to be served concurrently for the three thefts and one attempted theft.

There was no separate penalty for the drugs offence but he ordered them to be forfeited and destroyed.

For a previous conditional discharge Priestley received four weeks' jail to be served concurrently.