PETER Willians had to face the music at court after stealing a set of headphones from a St Albans city-centre shop in order to listen to his personal stereo. The 49-year-old, who is currently living at the Open Door night shelter in Bricket Road, St Alban

PETER Willians had to face the music at court after stealing a set of headphones from a St Albans city-centre shop in order to listen to his personal stereo.

The 49-year-old, who is currently living at the Open Door night shelter in Bricket Road, St Albans, walked out of Woolworths in July without paying for the headphones which were worth £9.99.

Willians, who already had a community order for an assault conviction, pleaded guilty to theft at St Albans Magistrates' Court on Friday.

The court heard that he could not afford to pay for the headphones to use with his personal stereo and discarded the packaging before leaving the shop with them around his neck.

Willians was caught in the act by CCTV cameras and police arrested him the following day in the rose gardens in the city centre.

His defence solicitor said the crime was a "little bit of a blip" as he had been doing extremely well complying with his community order.

Willians was sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge and was told to pay £87 in costs and £9.99 in compensation.