A TEENAGER who has “kicked the courts in the teeth time and time again” has been locked up after burgling accommodation at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Liam O’Neil broke into a doctor’s flat at Arthur Sanctuary House at the Headington hospital and made off with the occupant’s Mercedes-Benz A Class.

The 18-year-old then drove the stolen vehicle to a Co-op store in Didcot and stole two crates of cider.

Later that day he tried to buy more alcohol from a Co-op in Wheatley, but was refused and punched shop worker Abid Hussain in the face.

Prosecutor Nikki Duncan told Oxford Crown Court on Friday the burglary happened between June 28 and July 4 this year and the incidents at the two shops took place on July 4.

O’Neil, of no fixed address, had earlier admitted burglary, taking a vehicle without consent, shoplifting and common assault.

Miss Duncan said a £1,000 laptop and a phone “worth 550 Euros” was also taken in the burglary.

The Mercedes, which was bought for £4,500 in 2007, was later recovered in Oxford.

Miss Duncan said O’Neil had 16 previous convictions for 29 offences dating from August 2009.

Benjamin Narain, defending, said his client was on “a drink binge over several days” at the time of the offences.

He said O’Neil’s record of offending began after the death of his grandmother and added: “He does have a supportive family.”

Judge Julian Hall sentenced him to 21 months in a young offender institution.

He said: “When looking at your record, it’s absolutely clear that throughout the last 18 months the magistrate or youth court has done its level best to help you and you have simply kicked them in the teeth time and time again.

“I do not see why I should give you another chance because I do not think at this stage in your career, at this stage in your life, you would do anything other than the same to me.”

He added: “You’ve got to grow up.”

A hearing to decide whether or not O’Neil should be given an anti-social behaviour order will take place on November 25.