CNN —

A man dubbed “the Easter bunny” by police has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for stealing 200,000 chocolate eggs.

On February 11, 32-year-old Joby Pool stole £31,000 ($40,000) worth of Cadbury Creme Eggs, after breaking into an industrial unit and making off with the haul in a stolen truck, the PA Media news agency reported.

The milk chocolate eggs, filled with a “yolk” of yellow and white fondant, have a cult following in the UK and are exclusively sold around the Easter period.

Cadbury, which is owned by US food company Mondelez International, told CNN it sells 220 million Creme Eggs in Britain every year.

According to PA, Pool was jailed by Judge Anthony Lowe for a year and a half at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Thursday. Half of that is to be spent in prison and the other half on license, with his previous six months in custody counting toward his time behind bars.

Pool had previously pleaded guilty to theft, criminal damage and driving without insurance.

The court heard Pool had used a stolen tractor to tow the trailer full of eggs away from the industrial unit, PA reported.

In an earlier court hearing, Pool’s then-solicitor John McMillan told the court: “He stopped the vehicle when he realized he was being followed. He realized that the game was up – he realized the police were behind him and pulled in when it was safe to do so.”

McMillan added: “He wasn’t offering any resistance and he was then arrested.”

Tweeting after the arrest, West Mercia Police said they had “helped save Easter for Creme Egg fans” calling the incident an “eggs-travagent theft.”

CNN’s Lianne Kolirin contributed to this story.

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