A man who dipped into the till of a seaside shop in Tenby to steal takings has been given a six week jail term.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jeremy Andrew Pegler of Llanelli, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to plead guilty to a charge of stealing £134 from the Dennis Cafe shop in Tenby on Sunday.

Prosecutor Ellie Morgan told the court that police officers received a call at around 2.30 pm, from the shop owners to inform them that cash amounting to £134 in coins, and five and ten pound notes had been stolen from the premise’s till.

“A description of a female walking with a crutch and a male wearing a white T-Shirt was given, and police officers were able to track the couple down in the town,” she said.

“The pair were searched and a large amount of pound coins were found in Mr. Pegler’s pockets, who then told his girlfriend to hand over the notes of money she had in her bag.

“He told officers that his partner had nothing to do with the matter, and he had gone into the shop noticed the till was open and grabbed the money it contained.

“Mr. Pegler said that they had been out the night before and that they were short of money, and he had taken advantage of the opportunity that had been resented to him.

“The defendant has a record of this type of offence, with 85 previous convictions for theft,” added Ms Morgan.

The court heard that Mr. Pegler had recently been release from jail after serving a 12 week sentence at Llanelli Magistrates Court in January for handling stolen goods.

Defence solicitor Peter Jones told the court that his client had already spent some of the money he had stolen on gaming machines in the town.

“Mr. Pegler is on post-sentence supervision and came down to Tenby with his parents and his partner for a break,” he said.

Magistrates told the defendant that the offence was so serious, and in light of his prolific offending, that they would impose an immediate custodial sentence, with Mr. Pegler being sent to jail for six weeks.

He was also ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £200 and compensation of £134 to the Dennis Cafe shop.