A convicted thief has asked a court to take into account a string of 19 other offences when he returns to be sentenced next month.

Sean Abrey appeared at Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Thursday to admit stealing items from a car and interfering with another vehicle in May this year.

The 34-year-old, of Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, asked for a series of other offences to be taken into consideration when he returns to the same court to be sentenced on September 9.

Prosecutor Mark Milkovics said Abrey was spotted attempting to open the door of a vehicle several times, before kicking it in frustration, by a member of the public in the area of Hospital Road, Bury St Edmunds, on May 23.

Mr Milkovics said police searched the area and noticed some discarded items near a Land Rover Defender, with its door ajar, on a driveway.

He said Abrey was found by a police dog, crouched behind the vehicle and in possession of a number of items stolen from inside a nappy bag and the armrest of a Skoda Superb in a car park off nearby Victoria Street.

The stolen items included a loyalty card, baby talcum powder, honey, card receipts and moisturiser.

Andrew Cleal, mitigating, said Abrey, who has 22 previous convictions for 54 offences, made full admissions in interview and wished the court to consider a number of other offences.

In total, he asked for 19 other offences to be taken into consideration, including two thefts from Bury St Edmunds Cathedral, the theft of a wallet from a bin lorry, an attempted shop theft and a string of vehicle interferences, between September 20 and 30 last year.

Mr Cleal said Abrey had, until last September, been doing all he could to stay out of trouble since being released from a prison sentence for drug offences in 2015.

He said the offences were committed during a time when Abrey was "going down the wrong path again".

Mr Cleal said: "He wanted to deal with it as fully as possible and assisted police in clearing up these offences."

Magistrates adjourned the hearing until September 9 for the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report.