Thief bit supermarket worker after flashing knife at South Tyneside store
A thief bit a supermarket worker at a South Tyneside store after flashing a knife when confronted.
A serial thief who bit a worker during a raid at a supermarket has been locked up.
Craig Hughes had gone into Morrisons in Jarrow, South Tyneside, where he was known to be a shoplifter, and started stealing last August.
Newcastle Crown Court heard when staff approached him Hughes exposed a knife he had in his pocket, although did not pull the weapon out.
Hughes, who appeared "unsteady and smelled of alcohol and cannabis" then attacked one of the workers who had intervened.
Prosecutor Antonia Adie said: "The defendant bit two of his fingers on his right hand."
Hughes, 34, of no fixed address, admitted robbery, having a bladed article and an unrelated affray charge.
Mr Recorder Dapinder Singh KC sentenced him to four years behind bars.
Mairi Clancy, defending, told the court: "He has a very, very serious, long standing drug problem which is directly linked to his offending."