Prolific thief banned from supermarkets
CRACK COCAINE ADDICT IS JAILED FOR SIX MONTHS
A PROLIFIC thief who plagued Huddersfield shops with his criminal behaviour has been banned from entering them.
Crack cocaine addict Ian Hinchcliffe repeatedly stole from supermarkets and attacked a security guard, threatening to smash another’s face in.
Kirklees magistrates jailed the 38-year-old for six months and made a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) barring him from the premises he targeted.
He was on a suspended prison sentence when he committed six offences in just five days.
The spree began on July 29 when Hinchcliffe went into the Market Street branch of Sainsbury’s and was told by a security guard he was banned from the store. Hinchcliffe responded by shouting and swearing.
Prosecutor Vanessa Jones said: “The security guard accompanied him out of the store and he (Hinchcliffe) said, ‘If I see you outside I’ll smash your face’, and pushed him.
The following day the same member of staff was working at the Southgate store when he saw Hinchcliffe again.
Mrs Jones said: “The security guard saw him walking towards the store and said, ‘Ian, don’t come in here’.
Hinchcliffe swore and pushed the man again. On August 3, Hinchcliffe assaulted another security guard working at Morrisons in Waterloo, again when he confronted him as he was banned from the store.
Hinchcliffe had tried to steal three bottles of Martell brandy from the supermarket four days earlier, pulling the security tags off and putting the bottles inside a bag he had with him.
When the security guard stopped him and asked to look inside his bag he handed it over and fled.
On August 2, Hinchcliffe targeted Aldi, at Gallagher Retail Park, with an unknown accomplice. Hinchcliffe lingered by the entrance while his friend went to the beer display and took a crate of Carlsberg lager. He then headed through the automatic exit doors where Hinchcliffe was standing, keeping them open and both men made off on foot with the alcohol.
The next day at Asda in Aspley, Hinchcliffe hid three bottles of booze under his arms and left the store. A security guard restrained him until police arrived.
At the time of the offences Hinchcliffe, of Wakefield Road in Dalton, was subject to an 18-week suspended jail term imposed at the Huddersfield court on June 24 for shoplifting.
Sonia Kidd, mitigating, explained that her client had a dif
Magistrates activated his suspended sentence and added six weeks for the new offences, jailing him for a total of 24 weeks.
They granted a three-year CBO, banning Hinchcliffe from remaining in any retail premises when asked to leave by staff.
It also prohibits him from entering any Sainsbury’s in Kirklees, going to the Waterloo branch of Morrisons or entering Gallagher Retail Park in Waterloo.