Shoplifter jailed after threatening to stab security guard with hypodermic needle
Nottingham England April 19 2019
A shoplifter was jailed for pulling out a hypodermic needle and threatening to stab a security guard.
The incident took place as Jamie Wightman got away with chocolate and batteries worth £8, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
He had already been banned from the Asda branch and was being closely watched via security cameras, said Stuart Patterson, prosecuting.
When going through a self-service checkout, he appeared to be holding only one item and was challenged by the security officer around 6pm.
Wightman, 22, put his face close to the officer when told the police were about to be called. Then he said: “Keep out of my way otherwise I will stab you.”
He then took out an uncapped needle before leaving, said Mr Patterson.
Judge John Burgess said people feared infection if stabbed by a needle and added: “It is hard to think of a more dangerous weapon if that is what it was.”
He said Wightman is not HIV positive but the security officer would not have known that.
He imposed a 14-month prison term on Wightman, of Terrace Road, Mansfield, who admitted theft and having a bladed article on January 21.
The judge said a report on Wightman made “grim reading” and pointed out he had been “brought up on drugs from the age of 13.”
He would have favoured putting Wightman onto a course but said this approach had failed in the past. There were 37 offences already on Wightman’s criminal record.
Emma Coverley, mitigating, said the security man had showed “stoicism” in dealing with the incident in the Mansfield branch of Asda.
“It doesn’t last very long at all,” she told the court. Wightman’s father died a month before the incident and this had hit him hard, she said.
Miss Coverley added: “He and his father had a very close relationship even though his father was in difficult circumstances. He was drawn to his father’s lifestyle rather than his mother’s.”
