A drunk Cardigan man walked away with a box of cider cans, after shop staff refused a request to give it away for free, a court has heard.

Jason Christopher White, aged 41, of Enslin, Feidr Fair, pleaded guilty to theft from a shop, when he appeared before Aberystwyth magistrates on Wednesday.

The court heard that White took two boxes of cider to the till at Coop Store, Cardigan, on June 25, and asked staff to give him the second one for nothing.

After staff refused, he paid for one box containing 18 cans, and walked out with the other. He later told police he had made a mistake.

Stephen Welch, defending, said his client was ‘seriously alcoholic’.

He said: “He started drinking early that day, so by lunch time when he went to the shop he was well oiled.

“It was bizarre behaviour from a bizarre state of mind.”

A probation service report stated that White had a serious dependency on alcohol which required specialist treatment.

Magistrates fined White £75, and ordered him to pay £12 compensation, £85 court costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

The presiding magistrate advised him to get help from the appropriate agencies to turn his life around.

White said: “I want to better myself, because I will wake up dead one day.”