A cocaine user and convicted robber who twice walked out of a shop while stealing alcohol and threatening shop staff who confronted him, has avoided jail after magistrates heard he had given up the drug following the birth of his baby.
Peter Croft, 27, of Central Avenue, Birkdale, was jailed for six years in 2013 for robbery and attempted robbery, Sefton Magistrates Court was told on January 9 where he pleaded guilty to three shop thefts and two offences of using threatening words and behaviour with intent to cause fear of unlawful violence.
Angela Blackmore, prosecuting, said that on October 21 staff at a Co-op store in Southport realised that Croft and another male had stolen alcohol. The men returned again on the same day and Croft was seen stealing a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bottle of Smirnoff, the press reported this week.
When confronted by a shop assistant, he said: “I’ve got a knife in my pocket. You will get shivved.”
The magistrates sentenced him to a total of 24 weeks custody, suspended for 24 months along with nine months of drug rehabilitation and 20 days of a rehabilitative activity.
He was also ordered to pay compensation of £50 to each of the shop assistants he threatened and pay compensation £116.61 for the goods he stole.
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