A SERIAL shoplifter is facing jail after he admitted more than 20 offences during a 14-month spree.

Pavel Gondolan, of Brightwell Avenue, Westcliff, targeted some shops and petrol stations several times before he was arrested in Hadleigh on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old appeared at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Friday, but will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on July 22 because of the serious repeat offending.

In total, Gondolan admitted 20 shoplifting offences and two burglaries, carried out between April 2015 and June this year.

The car valeter hit the Co-operative Food store in Leigh Road, Leigh, four times, starting with a shoplifting offence on April 24, 2015.

He returned on July 30 to commit a burglary by accessing a staff area, and then stole items from the shop again on November 20 and April 3 this year.

Gondolan also targeted other Co-op food stores in the area, striking in London Road, Westcliff, on June 8, 2015, Golden Cross Parade, in Rochford, on November 15 and 17 and High Road, Benfleet, on March 7 and June 22 this year.

Gondolan also admitted:

• Three counts of theft from Sainsbury’s in Rochford on January 30 and 31, 2016 and November 17, 2015

• Two counts of theft from BP in Rayleigh on June 5, 2016 and June 9, 2016, and three counts of theft from BP in Benfleet on April 17, 2016, May 9, 2016 and May 13, 2016

Theft from M&S in London Road, Westcliff, on January 31, 2016 , and theft from BP in London Road, Hadleigh, on May 18, 2016.