A serial 'dine and dasher' who tried to leave a restaurant without paying for more than £50 of food and drink has been sentenced again.

James Lang, 33, was at Colchester's Mimosa restaurant on August 10 when he committed his most recent offence.

He was previously convicted of making off without payment just a month earlier after he admitted stealing £34 of food and drink from Turtle Bay, telling magistrates he had done so by mistake.

He said at the time: “I was waiting for two days for money to come into my account.

“I didn’t mean to do it at the time – it was a mistake.

 “I will pay the fine and what not.

“I suffer from a bit of mental health illness, so I am quite forgetful about community orders."

Lang, of Whitmore Drive, Colchester, was before the courts again last month to admit one charge of theft for the offence at Mimosa, when he stole £53.20 of food and drink.

Magistrates ordered Lang to repay Mimosa the £53.20 in compensation and a further £85 was deducted from his benefit payments.