A MAN from Barnoldswick has been jailed for 27 weeks for attempting to steal diesel shortly after he had been released from prison for a similar offence.

On hearing the sentence, Michael Haggerty told magistrates in Skipton that he thought it was 'harsh' and he would appeal.

The 51-year-old, of Powell Street, Barnoldswick - where he lives in a caravan - was also banned from driving for 12 months and the Bench ordered the confiscation of a night vision monocle found in his vehicle, which he used for poaching.

Haggerty pleaded guilty to going equipped for theft at Lodge Bank Farm, Clapham and to criminal damage in Robin Lane, Bentham.

The bench heard that after fleeing Lodge Bank Farm, he crashed his Mitsubishi Shogun into a gate in a bid to escape police. Officers then found enough plastic drums to hold 85 gallons of diesel.

He told them he had called at the farm because he was running low on fuel and wanted to buy some diesel - it was 12.30am on April 2.

Haggerty, who was described as an habitual criminal, had been seen by a farmer sneaking out of a building at Lodge Bank Farm, where diesel fuel was kept.

The farmer shouted at him and Haggerty jumped over a wall and ran two miles to his parked car and drove off at speed.

Police were alerted and he was chased for some time, eventually turning down a lane at Thornber off Robin Lane, Bentham, where he crashed into a gate in a bid to evade capture, said Alison Whiteley, prosecuting.

When officers examined his car there was a strong smell of diesel and there were 17 five-gallon plastic drums which would have had a capacity of 85 gallons. They also found the night vision device.

She told magistrates that Haggerty was a ”prolific thief” with a string of offences stretching back more than 10 years.

He had been imprisoned for 42 days in January this year after breaching a community order imposed for the theft of diesel and had other similar offences relating to the syphoning of fuel and theft dating back to 2003.

His lawyer said Haggerty was an habitual criminal with a number of convictions mostly minor and involving the theft of fuel usually by syphoining it from lorries.

On this occasion he noticed his vehicle was low on fuel and thought he would contact a farmer and buy some, but if the opportunity arose, take it without paying.

He had seen the farmer in the yard and believed he had a gun and fled in terror, driving off in a panic.

He believed he was being followed by the farmer and drove into the gate as he tried to escape. Since the incident, he had sold the Shogun.