A MUSSELBURGH thief has been warned he must stay out of trouble or he will be returned to court and handed a prison sentence.

Stephen Arthur, 40, was told by a sheriff that it was “essential you are of good behaviour” during an appearance in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week, during which he was sentenced to a community payback order as an alternative to custody.

Arthur, of King Street, pleaded guilty to stealing a jacket and a packet of razor blades from the town’s Tesco supermarket last year.

The court was told that the goods, worth £110, were recovered after staff spotted Arthur putting the items in a bag on October 7 last year.

Defence solicitor Mr MacFarlane said that his client was a drug user and had been under the influence of a substance at the time of the theft attempt.

Sheriff Robert Fife said: “I am persuaded not to impose a custodial sentence today. It is essential you are of good behaviour.

“If you are not, I will revoke the order and impose a custodial sentence.”

Arthur was ordered to carry out 75 hours of unpaid work in the next six months as a punishment for the offence.