A PROLIFIC thief who admitted assaulting two staff members who attempted to stop him stealing from shops in Grays has been punished with a community order.

A sentence hearing at Southend Magistrates court yesterday (Friday, 1 August), which was detailed in a personal post by Nub News editor Neil Speight, ended with Lee Britchford receiving a community order for 50 hours of community service to be completed by 31 July 2026. 

Magistrates banned him from entering Tesco in Crammavill Street, Morrisons and Aldi and Farmfoods in Grays and the RAFA Club on Southend Road, Grays.

Additionally Britchford, 47, who lives in a house of multiple occupancy on Clarence Road, Grays, is to attend non-residential drug rehabilitation. He is currently receiving support from the Forward Trust.

He was also ordered to pay £192.05 compensation to Tesco in Cramavill Street and £52.95 to Farmfoods in Grays.

Other shops he stole from between April 19 and June 26 included Morrisons stores in Grays and Corringham, Aldi and Greggs. As they were unable to determine how much he stole, they received no compensation.

An application by the Crown Prosecution for him to pay compensation to the store staff he attacked was rejected by magistrates.

Lee Britchford.

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Britchford also stole a patio table and chairs set from the RAF Association Club in Grays, but the CPS offered no request for compensation, even though Britchford had profited by selling the items on.

In mitigation, defence counsel, Mr Collins, said Britchford - who had eight previous convictions for multiple thefts - had been out of trouble for some time, but relapsed into criminal activity due to the influence of residents at a House of Multiple Occupancy on Southend Road in Grays.

Britchford, who confessed to being a heroin user, drug addict and alcoholic in the past, has since changed his residence and was reported by the Probation Service to have made progress thanks to Forward Trust.