A THIEF defied a court order because he needed help for his sore feet, York magistrates heard.

Homeless Daniel Shaun Eden, 37, stole Scholl insoles worth £14.95 from Superdrug in Market Street, in York city centre, on November 24, said Kathryn Reeve, prosecuting.

Two days earlier, he had been discharged by West Yorkshire magistrates for two offences of theft on condition he didn’t commit any more crimes.

For him, Liam Hassan said: “He has been tramping up and down the streets of York in the same shoes and the same socks and got blisters on his feet.

“That is why he stole the insoles.”

Eden, now of the Arc Light hostel for the homeless in York, pleaded guilty to theft and admitted breaching the conditional discharge.

York magistrates sentenced him for all three thefts and gave him a community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement.

They also ordered him to pay an £85 statutory surcharge.

Mr Hassan said Eden had been in a Leeds hostel when he committed the earlier thefts.