CABLE thief Kevin Clarkson was jailed after being "flattered" into committing a crime.

The 41-year-old was handed a six-month sentence after admitting stealing 250 metres of copper cable worth £1,250 in two separate incidents in March.

But Phillip Parry, defending, said his client did not have the brains to be the architect of the plan and was merely prepared to go along with others.

Mr Parry added: "He insists he has got no money worries and I said 'could he do it for the thrill of offending?'

"But he said he did not accept that and that he had associates who do this for a living and when they ask for assistance it is almost as though he is being flattered to be asked."

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that the organised thefts, which were carried out in association with at least one other person, could have been dangerous.

Clarkson, who had previous convictions for dishonesty, had also been known for stealing cabling.

Mr Parry said that Clarkson, of Pointon Grove, Norton Green, needed to stay out of prison to attend speech therapy courses. That would help his nine-month-old son, who suffers with Down's Syndrome, learn to communicate.

But Judge Robert Trevor-Jones told him: "You have been before the courts on innumerable occasions for offences involving dishonesty."

A further month's imprisonment for breach of conditional discharge will run concurrently.