AN ‘OPPORTUNISTIC’ burglar who pinched meat to fund his drug habit has been locked up for three-and-a-half years.

Malcolm Plaisted confessed he committed a string of offences to grab the meat, which he planned to sell for half the price or £10.

Prosecutor Warwick Tatford told Oxford Crown Court yesterday Plaisted thieved eight rib eye steaks worth £48 from Magdalen Street’s Sainsbury’s, and two joints of beef worth £30 from a nearby Tesco store over two days.

He returned to the Sainsbury’s store the next week, when he tried to flee with eight meat steaks worth £44.

A security guard detained him in the kitchen, where he brandished a knife and threatened the staff member.

The 29-year-old, who has a ‘staggeringly long’ list of previous convictions, was then allowed to run free by the terrified security guard.

Mr Tatford said Plaisted burgled Rukia Begum, stealing her handbag containing two passports, keys, a gold ring, bank card, wallet and gas card - which were never recovered.

Plaisted had entered a flat in Friars Wharf, Oxford, through an unlocked front door, claiming to be a salesman before fleeing.

Defence barrister Kellie Enever said Plaisted’s life ‘spiralled’ out of control after initially turning to cannabis.

Plaisted, of Windrush Road, Rose Hill, admitted burglary, three thefts, failing to surrender, possession of an offensive weapon and breach of a suspended sentence order between January 30 and December 4 last year.