A man who fled from Tesco with eight cans of Carlsberg Special Brew might have escaped conviction but handed himself in at Holbeach Police Station.
Verdon Brown dropped four of the cans in the supermarket’s car park as he outran a security guard on the afternoon of April 15, Spalding magistrates heard.
Rebecca Ritson, prosecuting, said Brown picked up the lager worth £16 and placed it inside his zip-up hoodie.
He realised he was being followed and ran out of the exit door.
The four cans that were dropped were recovered, but Miss Ritson said there was nothing on her file to say whether they were damaged after Brown had dropped them.
She said Brown attended the police station, apologised for the theft but was “alcohol dependent” and had no money to pay.
Brown (36), of St Matthew’s Close, Holbeach, was conditionally discharged for six months when he pleaded guilty to theft.
He must pay £45 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and £8 compensation.
Solicitor Anita Toal, mitigating, said: “He handed himself in at the police station. It would have been difficult if not impossible for him to be convicted had he not done that.”