Man, 44, who threatened Stourbridge shop worker with knife while stealing chocolate jailed
A 44-year-old man has been jailed after he stole items from the same store eight times in eight days - including a large amount of chocolate.
Timothy Little, aged 44, broke into a store on Hungry Hill, Stourbridge after kicking and breaking the glass front door with a shovel.
He then climbed through the broken door and stole a quantity of chocolate from the shelves.
He then began his targeted spree against a store on Belmont Road, Lye on July 6 - again stealing a number of chocolate products but was confronted by a member of staff.
Little held a small knife towards the staff member and shouted ‘move’.
Police were able to identify him from CCTV footage and local knowledge. Soon after he handed himself into Brierley Hill Police Station was arrested.
He was charged with robbery, aggravated burglary and shop theft.
After pleading guilty at an earlier hearing, Timothy Little, of no fixed address was sentenced to five years and three months in prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
PC Luke Johnson from Brierley Hill Neighbourhood Team, said: “Little not only stole a variety of items but also threatened staff with a knife.
“After smashing the front door of a shop and stealing from a shop in Stourbridge he then went on to repeatedly target the same store in Lye.
“However, Little was seen in CCTV from all offences and he was arrested. We take shop theft and retail crime extremely seriously and we want to encourage business to keep reporting incidents so we can put more offenders like Little behind bars
.”We’re catching hundreds more suspected shop thieves as we continue to take action against retail crime across the region. Arrests for shop theft offences have risen over 60% in the last two years as we’ve improved the way we respond to crime reports.
"If you see anything suspicious, please call 101. Always call 999 in an emergency."
