A SERIAL thief has been jailed and fined after stealing £4600 worth of items in Wokingham.

Ashley Reed-Jones, age 26, of Ashridge Road, Wokingham, has been sentenced to a total of 36 weeks’ imprisonment for a number of thefts he carried out in June and July in Wokingham.

It follows him being arrested on Friday, July 28 and charged and remanded on nine counts of theft from a shop and one count of theft of a motorcycle.

In relation to these offences, Reed-Jones was sentenced to 18 weeks’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154 after he pleaded guilty to all of the offences.

This sentence relates to a string of offences from June 30 and July 24 where he targeted shops in Montague Park, Payley Court, Market Place and Finchampstead Road, taking items worth over £900. He also took a bike worth over £300 from Wellington Road.

His offending over the past month led to a previous suspended sentence of 18 weeks imprisonment being activated, which will run consecutively to this sentence, which will total 36 weeks. The suspended sentence was given after he pleaded guilty to three counts of pedal cycle theft, with the bikes being worth at least £3,400.

Sergeant Paul Bentley, of the Wokingham South Neighbourhood policing team, said: “Reed-Jones, over the past month, has prolifically offended across Wokingham, looking to take food items and cycles from where he could get them.

“The neighbourhood team will continue to investigate individuals such as Reed-Jones and bring them before the courts to face justice.

“I would like to thank all of the victims in these cases for supporting our investigations.

“We will continue to also carry out proactive patrols in Wokingham in order to target hotspot areas to reduce theft and anti-social behaviour in the town centre.”