Published date: 08 December 2015 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
A MAN held up a hammer to scare off a man who had been aggressive to fast food staff, a court heard.
Andy Holiday, defending, told Wrexham Magistrates Court Michael Jones, 27, was trying to scare off the man as he did not like the way he was treating workers at the town’s McDonald’s restaurant on November 22.
Justin Espie, prosecuting, said another man had been acting aggressively towards staff and was asked to leave before shouting at staff. He was taken outside and Jones, of no fixed abode, asked a member of staff if she was okay.
The other man continued to behave aggressively, adopting martial arts stances and shouting threats.
Jones “got fed up of this”, Mr Espie said, raised the hammer and made his way towards the door of the restaurant but was stopped from going outside.
The other man had been the more aggressive in the incident, Mr Espie added.
Jones pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.
Mr Holiday said customers escorted the other man out of the building with Jones’ help and added there was a closed door between the two when the incident took place.
Jones told police in this interview that the man would not go away and he wanted to scare him.
He raised the hammer, said “go away” and put it back down.
“His heart was in the right place, but clearly his actions were inappropriate,” Mr Holiday added.
Jones, who appeared in custody, also admitted stealing a British Legion charity box from Buckley Library on November 3.
Mr Espie told the court that the library manager spotted Jones taking the box, which had about £75 inside, while reviewing CCTV.
He also pleaded guilty to assault by beating after assaulting a store manager who tried to stop him stealing items from the Co-operative store on Lord Street, Wrexham, on November 22. The store manager put a bread basket in Jones’ way, but he pushed it into her before leaving the store.
Jones also asked for the theft of a charity box from Poundstretcher in Mold and another shoplifting matter to be taken into consideration.
Mr Holiday said Jones – who had mental health problems and severe learning difficulties – was living in a tent at various locations.
He sometimes committed the offences when in times of financial trouble, the court heard.
Mr Holiday called the charity box theft the “act of a desperate man” and said Jones did not appreciate the gravity of the offence or how other would view offences of this nature.
He added Jones, who had not been before the court since April 2014, had made full admissions and pleaded guilty to the offences.
Jailing Jones for a total of 26 weeks, district judge Gwyn Jones said he was quite sure only a custodial sentence could be justified.
Jones was sentenced to 18 weeks for the theft, eight weeks to run consecutively for the charity box theft and 16 weeks for the assault, to run concurrently.
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