A THIEF threatened a pharmacist with a steel shank when he was confronted for stealing medicine from Boots.
Kyle Jones pulled out the weapon when he was caught shoplifting nearly £100 worth of Benadryl at Boots on Newport’s Caerleon Road last November.
“It was a shank type item with wiring around it and sharply pointed,” Andrew Kendall, prosecuting, said.
“The defendant thrust it towards his torso but he didn’t make contact with his victim who felt extremely threatened.”
Jones then fled from the scene on a mountain bike, Newport Crown Court heard.
This incident happened during a shoplifting spree committed by the defendant between last September and this February.
Jones had stolen meat valued at £150 and £45 from Food Warehouse and boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolate from Sainsbury’s at John Frost Square.
“During the theft of four joints of meat from Food Warehouse on September 23, 2022, the defendant threatened a worker, ‘Don’t come anywhere near me – I have needles.’”
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Jones, aged 35, of Maesglas Road, Newport pleaded guilty to threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a public place and five counts of theft.
The defendant has 16 previous convictions for 36 offences, including supplying drugs, burglary and shoplifting.
Kevin Seal for Jones said: “He has been addicted to drugs since his early 20s.
“The defendant was homeless and hopelessly addicted at the time of these offences and was looking for his next bag of heroin.
“He has been drug free in prison since his arrest.”
The court heard that Jones was a father of a young child.
The judge, Recorder Sean Bradley, told the defendant: “You threatened pharmacist with a steel shank and you thrust the weapon towards him three times before you then left on a bike.
“That must have been very frightening for your victim.”
Jones was jailed for six months and told he would serve half of that sentence before being released on licence.
He was also ordered to pay a £154 victim surcharge.
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