The owners of a not-for-profit cafe in Hampshire pleaded with a judge not to jail a man who broke into the premises three times in just a month.

The offences cost the owners nearly £30,000, Winchester Crown Court was told.

But the owners of the cafe, Loomies, asked a judge to spare Adam Clarke from prison.

The 29-year-old, of Chapel Fields, Easton, had admitted ransacking Loomies in West Meon.

He stole hundreds of pounds in staff tips to pay off a drug debt, the court was told.

The 29-year-old was given a two-year suspended sentence after the judge heard how he had met the owners to apologise and started work to repair his damage.

Prosecutor Tom Horder told Winchester Crown Court how Clarke broke into the bikers’ cafe on July 5, 14 and 26, using a bucket full of sand, breezeblock and paving slab to smash windows.

His crimes cost the notfor- profit £28,352 in lost revenue, repairs and new security measures.

Clarke was caught on the third burglary after a co-owner installed CCTV which broadcast directly to his mobile phone.

Mr Horder said he broke into safes, forced entry into the stock room and stole a laptop containing the firm’s accounts and stock information.

The court heard William Bainborough and Paul Fullick revived the remote cafe last year after it went out of business.

In a statement the pair said their decision prevented what would have been the “end of an era” for customers.

In a submission to the court they said the thefts had damaged staff morale and threatened the firm’s survival through winter.

But they asked the judge to spare Clarke jail after he wrote to Mr Bainborough apologising.

The three now have an “affable relationship” and are working together to improve the cafe, said Lance Whiteford, mitigating.

Mr Whiteford said Clarke got into trouble with cocaine dealers but had been clean for two years Recorder Richard Powell handed down a two-year suspended sentence with rehabilitation sessions and 160 hours unpaid work, ordering Clarke to repay £2,000 over the next year.