Brazen vodka thief behind bars after taking packet of pills into prison during visit
A brazen burglar who kept his freedom after he was caught on camera stealing £10,000 worth of booze from Sainsbury's is now behind bars.
Ryan Robinson took dozens of crates of Champaign and vodka by sneaking into the warehouse at the retail giant's Silksworth Lane shop in Sunderland and loading them onto a trolley then leaving.
Footage showed Robinson, who was wearing a high-vis jacket that helped him easily pass for a worker, calmly walk out of the compound with boxes of booze and secure the gate behind him.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was in January last year when staff reported a large quantity of vodka was missing and the store cameras were checked.
CCTV showed Robinson had loaded booze onto a trolley during five separate trips between December 17 2024 and January 14 2025.
At a sentence hearing last March, Robinson, 43, of Guilford Street, Sunderland, was given a two year jail term, suspended for two years and warned it was his "absolute last chance".
The same court heard today how Robinson, who has a criminal record, had breached proceedings brought against him by the probation service last October by failing to comply with the conditions of the suspension.
Recorder Peter Makepeace told him today: "I have no doubt at all that the judge told you this was your very, very last chance."
“You were given the chance and I'm afraid you threw it straight back in the face of the court.
“I'm afraid that was your last chance."
Robinson had also admitted taking 58 class C pills into HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire during a visit in June 2024.
The court heard the tablets, which Robinson tried to give an inmate during a visit, would have been worth a total of £58 on the streets but would have fetched around £3,490 in prison.
Robinson said he had been ordered to take the package into prison after running up a drug debt but thought it contained only tobacco, which was also inside.
Recorder Makepeace activated 22 months of the suspended term plus six months for the drugs into prison offence, making a total of 28 months.
Claire Anderson, defending, said Robinson lost his teenage son in a car accident and turned to drugs to cope with grief.
Miss Anderson said the use of drugs, while he was on benefits, led to unmanageable debt and added: "He can live a law abiding life, he has had long periods away from crime.
"He is willing to engage, he knows the risks if he doesn't."