A Manwho handed himself in to police because he knew he was wanted has been jailed for 59 weeks for a series of thefts from BP garages.

Roy Simmons, 48, has also been banned from entering all Essex BP garages, including their forecourts for five years.

He stole a total of £5,060.77 of steaks, salmon fillets, ready meals, cheese, snacks and boxes of chocolate from garages in Billericay, Basildon, Laindon, Stanford-le-Hope, Orsett and Wickford, Southend magistrates heard.

And he stole another £696.94 of fuel from three of those garages and another in South Woodham Ferrers.

On one occasion, he threw a bottle of water at the head of a staff member who confronted him as he left the store, the court was told.

Knowing police were looking for him in connection with his crimes, Simmons rang police on 3 February and arranged to meet neighbourhood policing officers in King Edward Road, Laindon, so he could be arrested.

 As well as admitting six shop thefts and four counts of making off without payment – all committed between 25 September 2025 and 27 January 2026 – Simmons also pleaded guilty to assault by beating, possession of cannabis and failing to provide a sample for a Class A drugs test.

The court activated a previous 24-week suspended jail term and also sentenced him to a further 35 weeks for the new offences – a total of 59 weeks.

Magistrates also imposed the five-year criminal behaviour order, ordered Simmons, of Nether Priors, Basildon, to pay £200 compensation to the retail worker and made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis.

PC Alex Plakhtienko, of Esserx Police's Business Crime Team, who applied to the court for the criminal behaviour order, said after the case: "Shop thefts are not victimless. These crimes affect everyone who witnesses them so we seek criminal behaviour orders at court because, if they are ignored, the offender can be put back before a court and face a jail term.

"For staff and customers at the garages Simmons targeted, this provides an additional level of protection after he is released from jail and we hope it provides them with a measure of reassurance in the longer term."

Simmons stole food from these BP garages: Radford Way, Billericay; East Mayne, Basildon; A127 Arterial Road, Laindon; Orsett Cock, Stanford le Hope; A13 Orsett; Cranfield Park Road, Wickford.

And he stole fuel from the East Mayne, Orsett Cock and Cranfield Park Road garages, plus the BP in Burnham Road, South Woodham Ferrers.