Two men who stole more than �1,900 worth of food from the store room of a pub have been sentenced.

Two men who stole more than �1,900 worth of food from the store room of a pub have been sentenced.

Jason Hewitt, 24, from Hall Lane in North Walsham and his friend, Christopher Wilton, 23, from The Cottage in Allotment Lane, West Beckham, Holt, appeared before Cromer magistrates yesterday after pleading guilty to the burglary at an earlier hearing.

The pair admitted to breaking into a store room at the Dunstable Arms in Sheringham sometime overnight on February 16 and early the next morning and taking the food, which included meat joints, ice cream and pizzas.

They were arrested after police identified their fingerprints at the scene.

Prosecutor Fergus Harald said Hewitt had used a screw driver from his tool box to break the lock and admitted he had stored the food afterwards and eaten it over the next week.

Mitigating on behalf of Wilton, James Burrows, said that his client had been highly intoxicated when the crime took place and since then had been addressing his use of alcohol.

Mitigating for Hewitt, Chris Bentley said: 'When this took place he had no money, no food and he was using alcohol to cope, he was at his lowest ebb in life. Now gradually he is starting to get his life back on track.'

Both were given 12 month supervision orders and sentenced to do 180 hours unpaid work each. They were also ordered to pay �125 each to the publican of the Dunstable Arms, making up the �250 excess paid out on the insurance claim.