Chocolate mini-eggs thief pulled knife on guard
Northumbria PoliceA serial shoplifter who pulled a knife on a security guard while stealing £40 worth of chocolate has been jailed for three years and four months.
Paul Williams, 43, repeatedly targeted shops in Gateshead in December and January, stealing £701 worth of goods including meat, seafood, laundry products and alcohol, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
On 21 January, Williams pointed a knife at a guard who tried to stop him leaving with a box of mini-eggs, with the guard saying he was "petrified" he could be stabbed.
Williams, who already had 150 offences on his criminal record and first began stealing when he was 12 years old, admitted robbery, possessing a knife and seven counts of theft.
His latest spree began on Christmas Eve when he and a woman worked together to steal £100 worth of meat and laundry pods from a Co-Op, prosecutor Matthew Hopkins said.
Six more thefts were carried out over the following weeks, including £140 worth of chocolate from a Tesco Express on 14 January and £70 worth of sweets from a Spar the following day, the court heard.
'Stabbed for trivial things'
On 21 January, he concealed a large box of chocolate mini-eggs under his coat and walked out of a Tesco, the court was told.
A security guard followed him outside and told him to stop, but Williams pulled out a kitchen knife with 5in (13cm) blade and pointed it at the guard.
In a statement read to the court, the guard said he expected some level of confrontation with his job but he had never been threatened with a knife before.
He said he was scared Williams could return and "frightened someone could be seriously hurt".
The guard said: "I can honestly say I was petrified.
"You hear of people being stabbed over trivial things, this man threatened me to get away with £40 of chocolate."
After watching CCTV of the robbery, Judge Gavin Doig said the two men had been "very close" to each other and it was "understandable" the guard "was in fear of his life".
Hopkins said Williams' first offence of a long criminal record was for shoplifting in 1995 when he was 12.
He was convicted of robbery when he was 13, the court heard, with the "only significant gaps" in his offending seeming to coincide him being in prison.
In mitigation, Lucy Todd said while Williams' previous offending had been to fund his drug addiction, his latest spree was to raise funds to care for his ill mother.
She said he turned back to crime after being unable to set up benefits following his latest release from prison.
The judge said while he accepted Williams had not left home that day with an intention to rob, he had "taken the knife" with him which enabled him to carry out the crime.
