A TEEN will spend 16 weeks in jail after admitting to stealing alcohol from number of stores across Braintree and Witham.

Khalid Mohamed, 18, was charged with theft from Tesco in Braintree on July 29, theft of Ciroc Vodka from Honeysuckle Stores in Witham on July 17, theft of alcohol from Tesco in Braintree on July 2, and theft of Ciroc Vodka from U Save in Witham on July 13.

Mohamed, the unemployed teen from Hampstead, was also charged with two counts of assault by beating in Braintree on July 29 and possession of a class B drug, amphetamine, on the same day.

He appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on August 1 and pleaded guilty to all seven charges.

He was jailed for 16 weeks in total.

He was given 16 weeks for one of the assaults and ordered to pay £100 compensation to the victim.

Mohamed was jailed for 12 weeks for the second assault, to run concurrently, and ordered to pay £50 compensation to the victim.

He was sentenced to four weeks in prison for each theft, all to run concurrently, and had to pay £266 compensation to Tesco, £30 compensation to U Save and £29.99 compensation to Honeysuckle Stores.

He was also ordered to pay £115 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

Owners of U Save and Honeysuckle Stores in Witham had been appealing to find the gang who had targeted the stores last month.

Nick Patel, owner of U Save in Shaw Road, had said he wanted to catch them before they "did something stupid".

Navin Kabaria, Nick’s friend who owns Honeysuckle Stores, had to push the panic button.

He said someone "came around and smashed the counter door, took the vodka and ran off".