A CAREER criminal who once fronted a police campaign urging burglars to stay out of jail is back behind bars again.

Thomas Rouse, now aged 38, of no fixed address, helped police promote their Don’t be a pudding this Christmas campaign in 2010 by putting himself forward as an example of a changed man.

Rouse told the Bury Times that he had spent nine Christmases in prison and was determined not to make it into double figures with the help of probation workers and other support agencies.

Cards were delivered to hundreds of known offenders, warning them to stay out of trouble.

After stealing a bottle of cognac worth £26.40 from Marks and Spencer in Bury New Road, Prestwich, on October 15, last year, Rouse was given a community order by Bury magistrates.

He was back in court within a month where he admitted harassing a woman. He was given another community order and a curfew.

But he breached both those orders and appeared before Bury magistrates last Friday where he was jailed for 18 weeks.

Rouse admitted breaching bail, breaching a community order and breaching a curfew 24 times.

He also admitted stealing an iPhone 4 worth £160.