A DRUG addict shoplifter who robbed two stores by threatening staff with dirty needles has been jailed for four years and nine months.

And Damien Lynch also stole £1,000 in cash along with a quantity of booze from a convenience store in a spree of six other raids.

The 36-year-old first told a woman working at the Beechcroft Road Co-op that he had a hypodermic when she challenged him as he stole on Tuesday, March 26.

And the following day he produced the needle and used it as a weapon as he was challenged after jumping the counter at the Cricklade Road branch of the store.

James Newton-Price, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the ‘brazen’ thief committed eight offences within a few weeks in March.

He said “He had established a pattern which, by intimidation, he was going to the same type of shop time and time again.”

On Tuesday, March 5 he went to Iceland and as he fled with £30 worth of alcohol he made reference to a needle to a member of staff who challenged him.

A few days later he threatened a Co-op worker who confronted him, saying ‘I’ll f*** you up’ as he left the shop.

The following week he went to the One Stop in Toothill and made off with £1,000 in cash and more alcohol, again making threats as he left with the booty.

Three days later he snarled ‘Don’t even try it, I‘m having what I want,’ when he was spotted taking vodka from another Co-op.

And a week later he took four bottles of spirits from Waitrose in Marlborough before the first of the robberies that evening.

As he loaded his customary bag-for-life with booze a female shopworker told him to stop and grabbed him, but he threatened ‘Don’t try it love, I’ve got a needle’.

Just over 24 hours later he vaulted the counter in the Cricklade Road branch and was plundering the shelves when a man challenged him, telling him to put things back.

Lynch snarled ‘I’ve got a needle and I am having it’, before adding ‘I’ll stick you with it,’ before leaving.

Realising he was targeting Co-ops the police waited outside another branch and caught him when he turned up there.

Mary Cowe, defending, said he had a long-standing drug habit, but had been out of trouble for a while.

Earlier this year she said his partner was seriously ill and rather than being beside her in hospital he reverted to class A drug use instead.

Jailing him Judge Jason Taylor QC said “You went to another store, jumped over the counter, and helped yourself. You took out a needle and said ‘I’ll stick you with it’.

“Those were mean words designed to scare as there is the unspoken fear of needles of intravenous drug users.”

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