A drug addict who swiped at a Sainsbury’s security guard with a capped needle has been jailed for a year.

Swindon Crown Court heard that Connor Kirkley, who in 2017 barged past a shop guard who moments later suffered a heart attack, was on bail at the time for shoplifting Lynx deodorant from Wilko and riding in a stolen BMW.

Sending the 25-year-old down for 12 months, Judge Robert Pawson told him: “You can’t carry on behaving like this, Mr Kirkley. The sentences are going to keep getting longer and longer. They are going to be measured in years not months.”

Kirkley was caught on CCTV shoplifting £9-worth of items from Wilko on July 9 this year then £125-worth of Lynx deodorant five days later.

On August 5, he was the front seat passenger in a BMW 3 series stolen two days earlier. The car was stopped after a police chase.

Swindon Advertiser:

Connor Kirkley's 2017 police custody shot Picture: WILTSHIRE POLICE

While on bail for those matters he was seen trying to steal Jack Daniels whiskey from the Bridgemead Sainsbury’s supermarket on October 4, prosecutor Gary Venturi told the court on Friday.

Store security staff had been alerted to the well-known shoplifter by a member of the public and a staff member.

A security guard challenged Kirkley as he left the shop with a bag loaded with bottles of whiskey. One of the stolen bottles fell from his bag as he was stopped by the guard.

Kirkley pulled a capped hypodermic needle from his pocket and warned the guard: “Get away from me.”

The thief swiped the hypodermic at the security man’s left wrist with such force it broke the needle, although the metal point was capped at the time.

The guard managed to detain him until police arrived. Officers later found a knife in Kirkley’s rucksack.

Swindon Advertiser:

Sainsbury's Bridgemead Picture: DAVE COX

Kirkley, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to possession of a bladed article, assault by beating, shoplifting and allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle that had been taken without consent.

Rhianna Fricker, defending, said her client had taken party drugs like ecstasy and MDMA in his youth. He had developed an addiction to harder drugs heroin and crack cocaine after the breakdown of a relationship in 2016.

He had been homeless and spending hundreds of pounds a day on heroin and crack. The knife found in his rucksack by police had been used by the homeless man for tasks like opening tins and had not been to hand when he attacked the security guard at Sainsbury’s.

Ms Fricker said Kirkley had made some progress while on remand and now had a prescription for class A drug substitute methadone. He still had a relationship with his parents, who were hopeful of securing accommodation for him close to home upon his release from prison.

The court heard he had 11 convictions for 29 offences. They included an 18 month sentence in 2017 for elbowing a security guard at the Swindon designer outlet in June 2016. The guard, who had been trying to stop Kirkley from getting away with £400-worth of Hugo Boss clothing, had suffered a heart attack shortly after the assault.