A CWMBRAN man who stole DVDs and committed fraud immediately before and after appearing in court for another crime has been sentenced to 20 weeks in prison.

Simon Reynolds, of Cranham Houses, St Dials, was charged with four counts of fraud and four counts of theft.

He appeared at Newport Magistrates' Court earlier today and pleaded guilty to all eight offences.

The court heard how Reynolds previously appeared at Cwmbran Magistrates' Court on July 8, where he pleaded guilty and was fined for two counts of theft.

But on the same day as his appearance in court, Reynolds went to HMV in Cwmbran and stole three DVDs.

Reynolds also admitted to the court he had also visited HMV the two days before on July 6 and July 7 where he stole nine DVDs.

Then on July 9 - one day after his court appearance - he stole again, going to WH Smith in Cwmbran where he made off with five DVDs.

The court heard how following each of the thefts, Reynolds then crossed the town centre to cash generator shop CEX in Cwmbran where he exchanged the DVDs for money, pretending they were his own.

Reynolds pocketed a total of £53.80 from the shop for all the DVDs.

Today, he was sent to prison for 20 weeks.

The magistrates gave him five weeks for each of the fraud charges to run consecutively as well as four weeks for each of the theft charges. The fraud and theft sentences are to run concurrently.

Rob Simpkins, prosecuting, said: "He was offending before and after court on the same day he was in court."

Reynolds was caught after the thefts were reported to police and he was spotted on CCTV. He was arrested by police on Tuesday, July 14.

Ian George, defending, told the court Reynolds has a heroin problem which was the reason he stole the DVDs.

He made "full and frank" admissions to police in interview and admitted he was intoxicated at the time of the offences.

But Mr George added: "He's not an unintelligent gentleman and he comes from a good background. He realises he's got to break the cycle."

Magistrates chairwoman Valerie Willey said: "We have heard from probation that you are not taking advantage of their opportunity and support to help you stop offending.

"So we are left with no alternative to sentence you to prison."