A 30-year-old Wells man who admitted stealing two cans of lager from McColls store in Street said he had been too drunk to remember the incident.

Christopher Parr, 30, of Harters Close, Coxley, was shown CCTV footage of the incident at the store at 5pm on November 8 and agreed that it did show him taking the cans from a shelf.

At Frome Magistrates' Court last week, he was given a six-month conditional discharge because the bench considered his behaviour had been "a blip".

John Killah, defending, said Parr had been drinking heavily on November 8 because it was the first anniversary of the death of his father, who had brought his son up single-handed since he was a child of five.

"That made his death very poignant, and when the anniversary came, he lost it and drank himself into oblivion," said Mr Killah.

He went on to say that Parr was making great efforts to sort his life out and was about to launch his own scrap and groundwork business, aided by a Government Business Link loan.

Probation officer Joan Flower also gave her support to Parr, saying he had made excellent progress on a previous community order, and it had seemed that he had addressed many of the issues that had been causing him problems.

Magistrates said they were prepared to give Parr one final chance.

They ordered him to pay back the £3.90 value of the lager stolen, and told him he would have to clear £385 in outstanding court fines by paying the amount off at £5 a week.