A MAN who stole thousands of pounds worth of perfume from a high street retailer in Romsey has been jailed.

James Harber ransacked Boots, on The Hundred, smashing his way in and taking £15,000 worth of goods during the early morning raid.

Police responded to calls that a burglary was in action and found that Harber and four others had forced their way into the store and stolen a large quantity of perfume from the store on June 1 at around 4.58am.

He was later arrested and charged with burglary.

The 28-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charge but a jury convicted the motorbike enthusiast for his part in the raid.

During the four-day trial, Southampton Crown Court heard that when police arrived at Boots, Harber ran away from officers.

Recorder Jane Rowley told the court that after he was arrested Harber gave no-comment interviews and then refused to give evidence at all during his trial.

She said: “In this case you could have given guilty pleas such was the evidence against you.

“You were involved in the ransacking of this shop of all its perfumes on that day.”

The court heard that Harber had an extensive history of offending, culminating in 22 convictions for 57 offences - many of which were for domestic and non-domestic burglaries.

Ms Rowley added that his crimes were so serious and aggravated by his previous offending that he faced a custodial sentence.

Harber, of HMP Winchester, was sentenced to four years imprisonment.