A BEDWORTH man has been sentenced to 15 months behind bars after threatening a shopworker before stealing meat and cleaning products.
Jamie Albrighton, 35, of McMahon Road, stole and intimidated workers at a shop on Goodyers End Lane.
He appeared at Coventry Magistrates Court on March 8 and was sentenced to 15-months in prison.
The incident involved him entering the shop armed with a black carrier bag around 10am and placing various meat and cleaning products into the bag.
Albrighton was confronted by a staff member, he then reached into his pocket, producing what staff thought was a knife.
The staff member pressed her panic alarm to call officers to the scene but Albrighton managed to flee the store.
Three days later, when officers arrested him at his home on McMahon Road, he attempted to avoid arrest by hiding under a duvet near his bed.
In interview, Albrighton claimed in his pocket was a capped needle which he showed to demonstrate he was stealing from the shop because he was a drug addict.
He said he sold the items on for the purpose of buying heroin. The needle was on-hand to use after he had sold the meat and cleaning products and he used the proceeds to purchase drugs.
Det Sgt Pickard, of Warwickshire Police, said “Albrighton used the threat of violence to ensure he could leave the store with the items he had stolen and intended to use not to support a struggling household, but rather to feed a heroin habit.
“Drug addictions ruins the lives of the users and the lives of the people and businesses they exploit and terrorise to further their habit.
“Albrighton has received over a year in prison, and we hope that he uses this time to consider his actions and seek help.”
