Suffolk man jailed after breaking into a shop, stealing £2000 worth of tobacco and punching a shop keeper
He'll spend nine months behind bars
A Suffolk man's been jailed after breaking into a shop, stealing £2000 worth of tobacco and punching a shop keeper.
Steven Perrio, of Bevis Walk, appeared before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 10 January where he pleaded guilty to burglary, common assault and disobeying a court order.
Perrio received six-month prison sentences for the burglary and assault offences, which will run concurrently, and wasordered to pay £250 in compensation to the victim and £332 in costs and other charges.
He was also sentenced to three months’ imprisonment to be served consecutively for being in breach of a suspended sentence.
What happened?
The crimes occurred on Wednesday 13 December, when at just before 4.30am Perrio smashed a window at Eastgate Stores in Eastgate Street and entered the building, stealing over £2,000 worth of tobacco products.
When the shopkeeper, who'd been alerted by an alarm triggered by the break-in, arrived to investigate, Perrio was still inside.
He punched and knocked the shopkeeper to the floor and then fled the scene.
Police were called and following initial enquiries Perrio was quickly identified as a suspect.
Officers found and arrested him later that same morning.
Perrio was released on bail pending further enquiries, but was rearrested on Tuesday 9 January after the results from forensic tests found his DNA present in a swab taken from the scene.
He was then charged and remanded to appear before magistrates the next day.
"Not victimless"
Sergeant Joe Nettleton, of the Bury St Edmunds Community Policing Team, said: “We will not tolerate shopkeepers and other business owners being targeted by criminals and I hope the swift action taken by our officers in this case demonstrates this.
“Crimes against businesses are not victimless – not only are there are financial implications of lost stock and the damage caused to premises – but as shown in this case, the people who work there can come to harm too.”