Sheffield shoplifter threatened Asda staff with metal bar
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Alex Stuart's friend told him to "get the cosh" when he was grabbed by security guards outside the Beighton Road East superstore in the early hours of November 30, 2017.
Stuart produced a three-foot metal bar from a red Renault Clio and raised it above his head in a "threatening manner," prosecutor Louise Gallagher told Sheffield Crown Court.
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Hide Ad"He threatened to hit a member of staff unless they let his friend go," she said.
The security guards, who recognised the other man as a shoplifter responsible for £1,000 of thefts that week, released their grip and the pair fled.
The court heard Stuart has 11 previous convictions for 33 offences, 23 of which are for theft, dating back to when he was 17.
He was jailed in January 2015 for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and was on a suspended prison sentence at the time of the offence.
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Hide AdZaiban Alam, mitigating, said a community penalty was appropriate and there had been a significant delay in the case because a warrant wasn't executed.
Stuart, 26, of Birley Spa Lane, Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to affray.
Recorder Richard Wright QC imposed a 12 month community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement and 20 rehabilitation days.
He told Stuart: "If you breach these orders you can be re-sentenced and that includes sending you to prison."