He didn't eat all the pies

A Blenheim man with a penchant for meat pies is having to fork out nearly $140 for three of the pastry treats.

Timothy Bernard Deavin, 36, pleaded guilty to a theft charge in the Blenheim District Court on Monday after an incident at the Redwood SuperValue supermarket on January 30.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Graham Single said a drunk Deavin took a pie from the supermarket's warmer about 8.30am and ate it as he wandered the aisles, before returning to take another.

The second pie was not to his liking, so he returned it to the warmer and took a third. He paid for that pie, but not the others, at the checkout.

As well as $7.38 reparation, Judge Richard Russell ordered the sickness beneficiary to pay court costs of $130. "This was an expensive pie for you."

Lawyer Kent Arnott said Deavin remembered little of the event.

"The CCTV footage was his downfall ultimately."

- The Marlborough Express