Tesco robber claimed she had gun, knife ... and Covid

A WOMAN stole alcohol from Tesco twice – claiming she had Covid, then threatening staff with a knife and a gun stating she “wasn’t afraid to use it”.

Bethanie Summerscales, 22, first went into the store located on Chester Road in Stretford, on May 20 this year.

She came to the attention of security staff when she was seen placing bottles of booze into shopping bags in her trolley, Minshull Street Crown Court sitting at Stockport Magistrates court was told.

As she went to leave through the self scanners without paying, she was challenged.

“She responded by pulling down her face mask and shouted that she had Covid,” prosecutor Suzanne Hargreaves told the court. “She stated she had a gun and wasn’t afraid to use it. She then pulled a knife from her handbag and asserted again that she wasn’t afraid to use it. She left the store with the items valued at between £500 and £600.”

The security guard said in a statement that he has two young children, and when Summerscales, of Stretford, produced the knife, he believed she would use it.

Days later on May 24, she came back to the same Tesco Extra and the same guard was on duty when he spotted her picking up three bottles of vodka. He challenged her, and again she said she had Covid, a knife and a gun, the prosecutor said. “Another security guard on the way out stopped her by grabbing hold of her arm to prevent her from leaving,” Ms Hargreaves said.

“She managed to get out of his grasp and racially abused him, then called out to passersby saying that he was trying to rape her.

“She then punched him to the head and face several times. Bottles of alcohol were retrieved from her, the total cost of which was £76.50.” The guard was left with a minor injury to his lip.

In a statement said: “The racist words that came out of her mouth shocked me and the fact she was telling people I was raping her made me feel nervous about other people hearing as that was obviously not what was happened.”

Summerscales was said to have eight previous convictions for 16 offences including battery and theft matters.

Following a discussion with her defence counsel Simon Blakebrough, the sentencing judge Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC indicated that he had read a number of reports that stated a supported accommodation was already set up for Summerscales upon her release. He said that sentencing her to a determinate sentence would mean she would be released at the halfway point and made the subject of licence conditions and a post sentence supervision.

Summerscales, of Chester Road, was handed nine months imprisonment, but due to the fact she had served over half of the sentence in custody, she was to be released immediately and made subject to licence conditions. “If she breaches her licence she will be back to prison,” Recorder Clarke said.

As she left the hearing, she said: “Thank you for giving me a chance – I don’t want to get into trouble again so thank you.”