A TEENAGER who stole £5,000 worth of property from a High Street store in Royston has been sentenced to 16 months youth custody. Colin Hemmings, 18, admitted breaking in to Woolworths and stealing mobile phones, games and scratch cards worth a total of £5

A TEENAGER who stole £5,000 worth of property from a High Street store in Royston has been sentenced to 16 months youth custody.

Colin Hemmings, 18, admitted breaking in to Woolworths and stealing mobile phones, games and scratch cards worth a total of £5,040.

He also admitted stealing a charity box and cigarettes worth £1,684 from a newsagents in Hitchin; stealing a till tray containing £100 cash from a Hitchin pub, and stealing property worth £720 from offices in Hitchin.

Hemmings also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted burglary at the offices of the charity Carers in Hertfordshire in Hitchin.

His barrister Sarah O'Kane told Luton Crown Court on Thursday that since his time on remand at a young offenders institute "his oulook and motivation have changed".

She added that Hemmings, of Whinbush Road, Hitchin, had been an "emotionally disturbed youth" and his use of cannabis had "demotivated him from keeping his job".