A DRUG addict was found to be armed with a stun gun after being caught stealing from a staff changing room at Haslemere Hospital, a court was told.

Darren Light, 27, was the target of a Metropolitan Police surveillance operation, and had been followed there by officers who had already seen him taking equipment from a garden shed at a house in Brook.

But despite a string of previous convictions for offences including theft, shoplifting, and criminal damage, and the fact that it happened after he had been released on licence from prison, he escaped going back to jail.

Light, who had already spent seven months in custody since his arrest, pleaded guilty to three burglaries, theft, and possession of a prohibited weapon when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court last Friday.

He was sentenced to an 18-month Drug Treatment and Testing Order, backed by a two-year community rehabilitation order.

The court heard how Light had also been caught searching the handbag of a member of staff at a hospital in Merton last October.

Light was later followed to Brook where he parked outside Dell Cottages. He walked to one of the properties and returned with garden equipment, including a strimmer and mower, taken from a shed.

Police following him to Haslemere Hospital where he was seen acting suspiciously by staff before he left with a brown purse in his hand.

When stopped by police, he told them: "It's only a purse from the hospital, there's no need for this."

He was searched and found to have a high-voltage stun gun which he later said he needed for his own protection.

Ms Charlotte Yarrow, defending, said at the time of the offences that Light had been on crack cocaine and did not know what he was doing.

She said he had volunteered for a drug treatment programme and was planning to live with family in Mitcham.

Keith Bassingthwaighte, the Judge, said rifling the handbags of nurses was a "mean offence" but he gave credit for the guilty plea and the seven months Light had spent in custody since matters first came to court.

He told him: "Noting your age, it is time to see whether you can be diverted."