A LLANELLI man has admitted stealing more than £1,000 worth of goods from Asda on New Year's Day and selling them for drugs.

Joseph Luke Daly, 22, of Elizabeth Street, appeared at Llanelli Magistrates' Court charged with burglary after he stole a number of electrical items from Asda Living in Parc Trostre.

Prosecuting, Kevin Challinor said: "The Asda Living was closed and all members of staff had left the site.

"At 6.20pm that evening the alarm sounded and a rear fire exit was opened.

"Officers entered and found there were no persons on the premises.

"CCTV footage was subsequently looked at and the defendant was identified."

Mr Challinor listed the stolen items as including a DVD player, a number of hard drives and laptop computers totalling around £1,300.

He said the items were sold on and Daly received "£80 or £90" which he used to buy Valium.

District judge Vivian Manning- Davies said: "This is one of the worst records I've ever seen.

"For someone as young as him to be a professional burglar — my provisional view is he needs to go to the Crown Court."

Defending, solicitor Richard Morgan asked Judge Manning-Davies to take two other incidents into account where Daly had stolen meat from Marks and Spencer and Morrisons.

He said Daly had a troubled past, having spent time in care and then later falling into drugs.

"At around 16 years of age he has to make his own way in the world and gets himself involved with people who introduced him to various forms of drugs and he became addicted to heroin," he said.

Mr Morgan said in the weeks leading up to the incident Daly was back in contact with his father and was doing well.

He said: "He had spent some time living with him near Newport and everything looked better.

"The straw that broke the camel's back was his father visited him on December 25. They had quite a heated argument and he then regressed back to taking Valium."

Mr Morgan added in the week between the argument and the theft, Daly tried to take his own life.

Judge Manning-Davies said: "I think this is a supremely sad case — you're just 22 and drugs have ruined your life.

"I'm afraid to tell you that I'm going to commit you for greater sentencing. I will order an all options report so that you can then be sentenced."

Daly was remanded in custody and will appear at Swansea Crown Court on March 2 for sentencing.