Carl Hayes threatened Iceland workers who tried to stop him from taking a bottle of vodka without paying
A drug addict who used a syringe to threaten shop staff who tried to stop him stealing has been jailed for a year.
Carl Hayes, 28, went into the Iceland Store at Mold, picked up a bottle of vodka, and was challenged by staff when he went to leave without paying.
His initial response was to try and use an alternative exit but he was followed by staff, prosecuting barrister Michael Whitty told Mold Crown Court.
It was then that he removed a syringe from his jacket and pulled off the safety cap with his teeth.
He then told frightened staff: “Let me out or I will put this needle in you.”
Staff were concerned for their safety and had little option but to allow him to leave, said Mr Whitty.
He was arrested by police in Milford Street, Mold, a short time later.
The vodka was not recovered and he had various needles on him.
Hayes, of Alyn Meadows in Mold, admitted stealing the vodka on January 24 and possessing the uncapped syringe in public.
He also admitted five earlier shoplifting charges on Deeside.
Hayes, who appeared in court via a live television link from Altcourse Prison, said that since he had been in custody on remand he had been able to get off drugs.
“I have got myself clean,” he said.
“It was part of the reason I got myself arrested.”
Once he got a release date an application would be made for funding for him to attend rehabilitation to help him stay off drugs.
“I have a girlfriend and kids at home. It is not fair on them and it is not fair on the community either,” he said.
Judge David Hale told Hayes that he hoped he would continue with his resolve to stay off drugs when he was released.
He said Hayes was a prolific shoplifter but the court’s main concern was the production of the syringe so that he could get away.
“Anyone faced with that needle does not know if it has been used,” he said.
The staff would let him go in such circumstances.
“No one was going to go anywhere near you,” he said.
“That is why it is such a frightening thing to happen.
“If you threaten someone with a hypodermic needle that is a pretty awful threat.”
A three-year criminal behaviour order was made under which he is banned from about a dozen named shops including the Iceland Store in Mold.
The order means that if staff at any shops in the Flintshire and Wrexham area ask him to leave then he must do so.
Defending barrister Phillip Tully said that the needle was being carried for his own drug use, not because he anticipated trouble.
It was not carried to be used as any type of weapon.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/mold-drug-addict-who-waved-12652163
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