Thief who targeted shops in Blyth, Cramlington and Ashington is jailed

Dane Richardson, 22, stole meat, cosmetics, laundry products and a TV sound bar from supermarkets in Blyth, Ashington and Cramlington in Northumberland.

During six of those thefts, he threatened staff who tried to apprehend him, which included him telling them he was armed with a knife.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the spate of offending began on March 13 at a Co-Op in Blyth, and ended on April 27 at the same shop.

Prosecutor Neill Pallister told the court that one of the thefts involved a bicycle to the value of £500.

Richardson, of Shelley Crescent in Blyth, who has 20 previous convictions for 48 offences, pleaded guilty to 27 counts of theft, a further theft of a pedal cycle, and six counts of common assault.

Miss Recorder Davies told him: "You appear in court to be sentenced for 34 offences in total, of which six are offences of common assault and the remainder are thefts.

"They were committed whilst you were still on licence from your release of your last sentence. That aggravates them all.

"The shops from which you were stealing were offences you went to repeatedly, many of them supermarkets or convenience stores.

"You have repeatedly used threats of violence to make members of staff stand back and effectively leave you to make off with your stolen property."

The judge sentenced Richardson to 45 weeks behind bars.

Andrew Walker, mitigating, said: "The assaults are unpleasant but they are rather through causing people to apprehend violence rather than causing physical conduct.

"The defendant is acutely aware of the predicament he is in and that is a vicious cycle he is in of drug misuse, stealing to fund that drug addiction and then inevitable prison.

"He is a young man who is troubled with anxiety and depression."