THIEVES who targeted designer goods hid in a Southampton department store before making off with thousands of pounds worth of clothes.

Justin Lee Roach and Sara Manson hid in the West Quay branch of John Lewis until staff had left the shop.

The pair then made off with £2,440 worth of Tommy Hilfiger and North Face clothes before making out through the store's fire exit.

A few days later Manson was arrested for shoplifting in Boots while with Roach. The pair were both wearing the clothes they had stolen from John Lewis.

They were identified by police - who recognised them from the John Lewis CCTV footage.

Roach was already on a community order for dangerous driving, the prosecution told the court.

The prosecution said in June this year he was arrested after a police chase in which he made "dangerous overtaking manoeuvres" and drove on the wrong side of the road.

He had also been convicted of a number of non-dwelling burglaries - but the most recent offence took place in October this year.

The court heard that at the time of the offence Roach had a "prolific" addiction to heroin - which had been in the past "out of control".

Defending, Jim Osborne said in the last 13 years Roach had "never known a period of abstinence from drugs".

But at the time of the John Lewis offence he had moved out of his family home to relieve pressure on his mother who had had a stroke.

But after leaving the family home the court heard how he found himself homeless, Mr Osborne said he was "unable to fund his habit and sleeping rough in the centre of Southampton, surrounded by other addicts".

Mr Osborne added that since then, Roach had managed to come off heroin - and had reduced his methodone use from 30ml a day to 4ml a day.

Mr Osborne told the court: "Now he is actively taking control. He is able to go back to his mother's house. I think he is worth another go.

"He knows this is his last chance."

Roach 35, of Steep Close, Harefield, Southampton, pleaded guilty to stealing the clothes.

Judge Nicholas Rowland sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment for the burglary, six months for for a charge of dangerous driving, and disqualified him for driving for two years.

Manson, 41, of Saltmead, Southampton, was given a ten week sentence suspended for 18 months after also admitting the burglary at John Lewis.

That also included five weeks detention for shoplifting from Boots and stealing £434.70 worth of perfume from Debenhams in Winchester.