Calne serial offender Stuart Webb, who avoided serious punishment when he stole a Poppy Appeal box, has slipped his way out of trouble once again.

Homeless Webb, 25, sickened the county’s veterans when he stole the box from the Murco filling station on Oxford Road.

The junkie, whose grandfather served in the Army, committed the offence minutes before most people were falling silent on Remembrance Day in respect of our fallen heroes.

After admitting the theft, as well as a burglary and a theft from a building site, he escaped with just a community order and small fine.

But he was back in front of Chippenham magistrates on Friday for failing to comply with that order.

He was originally due at court last Tuesday but failed to appear.

A statement read out on behalf of the probation service said, while he had been making progress with his drug rehabilitation meetings, he had failed to show up for a number of them.

Magistrates chose merely to add three extra employment and education sessions to the end of his current community order.

They even declined to make him pay the £40 court costs, citing that it was unrealistic to make him pay as he already owes the court nearly £1,000 in fines and compensation from previous convictions.