A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 28 days in a young offenders’ institution for stealing money from three condom machines.

John Gill appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on Monday to be sentenced for three charges of theft from the Oyster Reach pub in Wherstead, Colmans in Great Colman Street and the Royal George in Colchester Road on Monday, May 16.

Gill, of Hoppers Road in London, a crack cocaine and heroin user, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing.

The court ruled that he did not have to pay for the cost of damage caused to the three condom machine raids which amounted to around �2,500.

At a previous hearing magistrates heard Gill used a crowbar to rip the machines from the walls of the men’s toilets in the three pubs. The tool was then used to prise open the machines and access the cash inside.

Gill was arrested on a bus in Colchester Road shortly after 4pm on Monday, May 16.

His co-defendant, Bradley Shipp, of Duncan Road, Southsea, Hampshire, denies the charges and has elected to be tried by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court.

Shipp was denied bail and was remanded in custody to appear at magistrates’ court via video link on June 20 for his case to be committed to crown court.

Dino Barricella, defending Shipp, said his client had been in Ipswich for a drink and to socialise with friends.

He said there was no “direct evidence” of any involvement on Shipp’s part.