A Swindon supermarket thief assaulted someone while taking goods worth hundreds of pounds worth of goods.

The shoplifter admitted to having an unusual weapon - a rock inside a sock - on the same date of these offences.

Michael Farrell, of Kirkstall Close in Toothill, appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court earlier this month to face three charges.

The 52-year-old indicated pleas of guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in public in the Bridgemead Sainsbury’s on Paddington Drive and taking goods worth £397.32 from the supermarket, and beating a man inside the shop on September 7, 2024.

As punishment, he received a community order that required him to carry out up to 30 rehabilitation activity days in the next 12 months and pay £10 in compensation to the assault victim as well as a £120 fine.

Court documents note that the Magistrates bench felt that there were exceptional circumstances that led to them not imposing the mandatory minimum sentence of six months of immediate custody.

These were the length of time since the defendant's previous offences and the circumstances of the new offence, which was that the weapon was not used and was found in his belongings where it had been left for two months.

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