A "habitual" shoplifter slashed at shop staff with a blade after being caught stealing steaks.
Darren Davies had gone to the shop with his partner to steal items to sell in order to fund their drug habits, and then lashed out with a weapon after being challenged by security staff. The 40-year-old has more than 60 thefts from shops among his record of 161 previous offences, and has been committing crimes of various kinds for a quarter of a century.
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on May 15 this year Davies and his partner Leanne Rees were caught on CCTV stealing jars of coffee from the Farm Food shop in Swansea's Parc Tawe retail development. Later that day Rees returned alone and took further jars - on this occasion she was challenged by a member of staff and handed over one jar before fleeing.
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A short time later Davies and Rees were involved in a disturbance with a store security guard outside the nearby Lidl supermarket after the pair had stolen steaks of meat from a fridge. The court heard a "scuffle" then developed in the car park involving the defendants and staff from Lidl along with the manager of Farm Foods who had gone to assist. The confrontation ended with Davies producing a blade - seemingly from a shaving set he had also stolen - and "slashing" at the shop workers while shouting that he would stab them. Davies and Rees then made off, taking their steaks with them. Police were contacted and an officer identified the pair from CCTV footage.
The court heard the following day Davies and Rees were spotted walked near Dyfatty junction and followed onto High Street where they were approached and arrested. In interview Rees admitted stealing the items but Davies answered "no comment" to all questions asked.
Darren Davies, of Weig Gardens, Gendros, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of theft from a shop and three counts of threating with a bladed article when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 68 previous convictions for 161 offences including possession of an offensive weapon, two robberies, three possession of bladed articles, and 64 thefts from shops.
Andrew Evans, for Davies, said the defendant had been committing offences for the last 25 years but after his last custodial sentence had found stable accommodation, and had a child with his partner. However, he said after the child was taken off the couple by social services and put up for adoption he had "returned to his old ways" of taking crack cocaine and committing low level shop thefts to fund the habit.
Recorder Duncan Bould described Davies as an "habitual shoplifter" and said on the day in question he and his partner had gone to Parc Tawe to steal items to sell to fund their drug habits. He said Davies had become aggressive when challenged by people who tried to stop him and had threatened them with a weapon, something that must have been terrifying for those involved. He noted the defendant hadthen calmly collected the stolen items from the floor and walked off as if the incident had been nothing but a "minor impediment" to him getting his own way. With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Davies was sentenced to 27 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Rees, aged 35, of Brondeg Crescent, Manselton, Swansea, has previously been sentenced at Swansea Magistrates Court to 12 weeks in prison for three offences of shoplifting, two of them joint offences with Davies.
