Shropshire pub landlady hit in the face as she tried to stop burglar

Alison Beckett tackled the intruder during the day-time raid at The George pub in Oswestry in August this year.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday the would-be thief James Fury was jailed for a total of 14 months.

Judge Peter Barrie commended Miss Beckett for her immediate response when she saw Fury trying to leave with the pub's £200 quiz prize money.

He said that she had made sure that Fury was virtually "caught red-handed", although he had initially got away.

Judge Barrie told 33-year-old Fury it was an "unpleasant, opportunist and selfish theft" in which he had used violence to avoid being detained and the assault was an aggravating feature of the burglary.

Fury, of Lime Grove, Oswestry, was jailed for 14 months for burglary and given a concurrent two-month sentence for assault. He had admitted both charges.

Mr Kevin Grego, prosecuting, said the incident happened in The George in Bailey Head around 1pm on August 1.

He said that Miss Becket had left her handbag and phone on the bar near the hatch while serving a customer.

She heard a noise and saw the defendant with a blue cash box in his hand which had been taken from the private area of the pub.

"As he ran for the door she was able to grab his jacket and there was a struggle.

"He told her to get off and pushed her against a wall when his elbow or fist struck her in the face," he said.

The landlady's partner arrived and punched the defendant in a bid to stop the attack.

Fury dropped the cash box and was able to wriggle free from his upper clothing and ran off wearing just his trousers.

The court heard that Fury was identified from CCTV images from inside the pub and had been on bail awaiting sentence for other offences.

He is currently serving a nine-month sentence imposed on August 19 for offences of theft and shoplifting

Fury has a string of previous convictions for burglary, assault, petty theft, public order offences and attempted burglary, the court was told before sentencing.

Miss Debra White, for Fury, said her client accepted that he had assaulted the victim during the struggle to get away.

She said he had problems with drugs, had served a sentence in May, and had split from his partner and three children and offending continued from July on his release.