SHOPLIFTER Warren Godsell, who left a supermarket worker with a double fracture to his leg as he struggled to get away, has been jailed for 16 months.

Godsell lashed out as he battled to escape the clutches of workers at Tesco’s as they tried to stop him making off with a PlayStation Three.

As well as leaving one man with a broken limb, the 32-year-old also assaulted three other people as he tried to get away in February 2011.

Godsell denied grievous bodily harm and four counts of common assault but was found guilty of all but one by a jury following a trial.

At an earlier hearing he had admitted theft and possessing a bladed article, which was a knife he used to cut the security tag from the games console.

The court head how he went to Tesco’s on Ocotal Way on February 8, 2011, with the intention of stealing to pay an electricity bill.

He was seen acting suspiciously by CCTV operators who alerted staff on the shop floor who detained him outside the store as he tried to get to a waiting car.

But when they went to detain him he lashed out, punching and kicking the workers who were trying to stop him stealing.

The most serious injury was caused to Amina Moussa, who suffered a double fracture to his right leg as he tried to grab the struggling thief from behind.

Chris Smyth, defending, said his client had gone out to steal as he had an electricity bill which had to be paid.

He said he had not intended to hurt anyone and struggled to understand why he was accused of assault when he was trying to get away.

Mr Smyth said his client had been educated at a special school which may explain his inability to understand the concept of reckless assault.

In the past he had worked as an electrician but he had let his qualifications slip so was unable to get a job. But a former boss was prepared to put him through a college course when he is released from custody.

Mr Smyth said: “All he has in mind is to go back to college and resurrect his career as an electrician.”

He said Godsell, of Brook Street, Tredworth, Gloucester, would return to live with his mother when he is freed. Jailing him, Judge Douglas Field accepted that the knife had not been used in the assaults.

But he said Godsell went to the shop with the intention of stealing. He said he hit one worker hard on the shoulder, another had a bruised wrist and another a double broken leg.