A SERIAL shoplifter is behind bars following his latest crime spree.
Houssam El-Kassem, 40, from Newport was caught stealing footwear worth £120 from the TK Maxx store and washing powder valued at £91 from Tesco.
He admitted the offences which took place on September 11 and September 7 respectively, the city’s magistrates' court was told.
These thefts put him in breach of a 12-week prison sentence that had been suspended for 12 months in July for similar matters.
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On that occasion El-Kassem, of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty stealing goods from B&M and Londis, also in Newport.
The defendant has a number of previous convictions for theft and was jailed for 32 weeks around the same time last year.
This time he was sent to prison for 28 weeks after he also admitted failing to surrender.
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