Shoplifter smashed his way out of a petrol station with his head
DRUG ADDICT THREATENED WORKERS WITH NEEDLES
A VIOLENT Hull drug addict smashed his way out of a petrol station with his head after being locked inside by staff
Gary Way, in the middle of a one-man crimewave, made the desperate bid to escape after charging at two petrol station staff members armed with uncapped syringes.
Homeless heroin addict Way, 36, had threatened to stab the two workers with needles after they tried to stop him shoplifting from the BP store in Hedon Road.
Hull Crown Court heard Way committed a series of crimes while on bail for four other offences.
Prosecuting, Nigel Clive told the court of the events at the garage on July 19, 2020, and described the horror that a staff member and his manager went through in trying to apprehend Way.
Way entered the garage three times on the same day to steal around £50 of cheese and meat from the refrigerators in the shop, firstly in the morning and then later on at 4pm.
A staff member locked him in the second time, upon which he was threatened by Way with two uncapped syringes and said “open the door or I’ll stab you” before fleeing the scene on a “ladies’ pink bike”.
Shockingly, Way returned to steal again at around 8.20pm and the same staff member and his manager then both sealed Way in, before he turned on them both in an aggressive attack.
“The defendant tried to punch [the manager] and it didn’t connect, but the defendant then elbowed him in the ribs to try and get that complainant to let go, which he did,” said Mr Clive.
“He then again produced a needle from his jacket pocket and took the cap off it, exposing the point and then walked towards [the manager] with the needle in a threatening manner and was held to his right side and [the manager] thought he was going to be stabbed as the defendant lunged towards his chest area and tried to stab him with it, but fortunately the complaint was able to move to one side”.
Way tried to make another run for it, but all three men fell to the
floor and Way then dropped the syringe but charged at the door 11 times trying to shove his way out with his head and chest, and managed to break free by shattering the glass.
The court heard a month earlier Way was staying at Dock House hostel and smashed up a staff member’s car after his bike went missing and then assaulted the two police officers that came to arrest him on June 19 last year.
He spat in a PC’S face during the coronavirus pandemic upon arrest and then tried to punch another officer three times while in the Clough Road cells.
Way then went on to steal two bikes in Hull, worth £170 and £180, on June 25, and then threatened a woman who recognised and stopped him two days later to ask for her son’s stolen bike back.
Way was eventually caught by police on the night of the petrol station incident when officers also found heroin wraps on him upon arrest.
In Way’s defence, Richard Thompson said the defendant had been released from prison on March 20 last year and was left homeless, without any money and without any medication for his mental health problems.
As a result, Mr Thompson said he went on to steal to feed himself and fund his heroin habit and that the lack of medication made him behave erratically.
Mr Thompson said Way is now on medication after being remanded in custody ahead of his trial and is now in a better frame
of mind, off drugs and was very “remorseful” for his actions.
It was heard that he had 52 convictions for 144 offences on his record.
Judge David Tremberg put in place an indefinite restraining order to prohibit Wray from contacting his three victims and sentenced him to three years behind bars.
He said: “Yours is a depressing case, even by the standards of those who regularly appear before these courts, you have quite a poor record. There is an entrenched pattern of stealing, shoplifting, class A drug use, possession of weapons, violence and threatening behaviour.
“You funded your drug-fuelled chaotic lifestyle by such offending and in that state, you appeared to care little or nothing for your own welfare and you treated the legitimate property rights and health and welfare of others with complete contempt.
“Prison has become a revolving door for you and you must understand that this behaviour is totally unacceptable and disgraceful conduct.
“The drugs are destroying you, and with the drug habit, you are blighting the lives of others.
“If you carry on like this, what’s going to happen is that the sentences upon you are just going to get longer and longer and longer and what you are going to end up doing is serving a life sentence in instalments as you come out of prison, commit a further offence and then come back in again.”