A man broke into two parked cars and stole a cell phone, parking vouchers and a case containing $170-worth of CDs because he was hungry and needed some way of getting food, a court heard.

Police officers spotted Steven Gregory Mills, 45, with the stolen items in a nearby street shortly after the car break-ins took place.

Appearing at Magistrates Court Mills, who gave his address as the Salvation Army in Pembroke, pleaded guilty to counts of theft and was ordered to serve six months in prison.

Mills admitted he broke into the two cars parked in Woodbourne Avenue on November 7 and stole a Nokia cell phone and four City of Hamilton parking vouchers worth $70 from one vehicle and a black CD case with $170-worth of CDs from the second car.

Police spotted him soon after on nearby Bermudiana Road carrying the items. Prosecutor Carrington Mahoney said Mills told the officers he was sorry and he needed to get something to eat.

In mitigation duty solicitor Leo Mills said: ?He has found it difficult to get and maintain steady employment. I understand the defendant was motivated because he was hungry. It appears to have been an act of desperation.?

Reviewing Mills? criminal record, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner noted it stretched back to the late 1970s and agreed with Mills? own assertion in court that he needed help because of his mental state.

?This court has to adopt a preventative posture. We need a mental health court and as I understand it we are in the process of sorting one out. You would be a likely candidate, but until then you can?t be allowed to do what you want to do in terms of criminal offences,? said Mr. Warner.

He gave Mills a six-month prison sentence for each of the counts of theft, to be served concurrently, followed by a three-year term of probation, which is to include appropriate mental health programmes.