Shoplifter who assaulted store manager avoids term in prison
A shoplifter who assaulted a store manager has been banned from Co-op convenience stores.
Molly Victoria Jones punched the store manager in the face and kicked her leg after being confronted as she and a man called Alex Ryan walked out of the Church Stretton branch without paying for £185 worth of goods.
The incident happened on November 29 last year. Then on February 26 this year the pair left Superdrug, in Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, with £268 worth of goods.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard she was also arrested for two separate shop thefts on October 26 and November 2.
At the time of the offences she was in breach of a two-year suspended jail term made in December 2017 for violent disorder. She also has previous convictions for shop thefts.
She denied assaulting the Co-op worker during the Church Stretton incident but was convicted of that offence following a trial earlier this month.
The 24-year-old previously admitted three offences of theft.
Judge Anthony Lowe said: “You haven’t committed any offences for three months, which for you is a significant period of time.”
Jones, of King Street, Dawley, Telford, was given a two-month jail term suspended for 18 months for the latest offences. She was also made subject to a restraining order to keep away from the store manager at Church Stretton’s Co-op indefinitely.
Mr Stephen Scully mitigating for Jones, said she had submitted regular negative drug tests and was attending a number of courses.
