A thief found with knives on him as he was caught taking meat from a supermarket claimed that he used them to clean his crack pipe.

Anthony Cooper stole goods worth more than £100 from Aldi in Huddersfield in a bid to fund his drug habit.

He was stopped at the Beck Road store on January 26, Kirklees Magistrates’ Court was told.

Cooper entered with another male who filled a bag with the meat before handing it to the 39-year-old.

He then fled, leaving Cooper still holding the bag.

Cooper was arrested and police recovered two knives with three-inch blades from a pair of gloves inside his jacket pocket.

He admitted that he had gone into the store with the intention of stealing meat to sell it to buy drugs.

Ian Whiteley, mitigating, said: “He was asked what he had the knives for and he told police: ‘For scraping out my crack pipe’.

“Mr Cooper said they came with the gloves and he was given them on the morning he went to Aldi.

“He knew he couldn’t have them in a public place but he was in possession of the knives for a short period and they were not used in dangerous circumstances.”

Cooper, of Spring Grove Street in Springwood, tested positive for having class A drugs in his system following his arrest.

Mr Whiteley explained that his client had not offended for years but then his mother died and he went to live in the Brackenhall area with his father.

He said: “He fell in with the wrong crowd, started taking drugs and these offences were committed.”

District Judge Andrew Pascoe sentenced Cooper to 12 weeks in custody, suspended for a year.

He has to complete 20 days of rehabilitative activities as part of a community order.

Cooper must pay £85 costs and £20 victim surcharge.

The knives will be forfeited and destroyed.