A DRUG addicted shoplifter who chased a shop manager threatening to stab him with a syringe has been jailed.

Eleanor Guildford, prosecuting, said the manager of an Asda store recognised Julie Ruth Rutherford, 54, when she walked into his store, and alerted his colleagues to prevent her from leaving.

When they did so and tried to take the two bottles of alcohol she was stealing off her, she was aggressive towards them and started chasing the shop manager.

She had the syringe needle in her hand and shouted at him: “I will give you the needle, I will stab you with it.”

He was so terrified that she would injure or kill him, he phoned 999 even though he knew police were already on their way to deal with her for theft.

Rutherford has 55 previous convictions for theft and 85 in total, Ms Guildford told York Crown Court. She was on a suspended sentence for a similar offence when she was in Asda.

“Think about how much you have cost the country,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told her.

Every time she appeared in court, the taxpayer had to pay for it through the costs of running the court, the cost of prosecuting her and legal aid for the lawyer to represent her, he said.

He ordered her to serve a month of the suspended sentence, plus 18 months for her offences in Asda, making a total of 19 months.

Rutherford, who was living in a hostel for the homeless, pleaded guilty to shop theft, affray and criminal damage.

Her barrister Gabrielle Wilks said she had had a difficult life, losing her sister four years ago, being homeless, living on the streets, and suffering domestic abuse in previous relationships.

“These life events heavily contribute to the defendant’s dependence on drugs and alcohol and the position she finds herself in,” she said.

The judge told Rutherford: “I accept you have had a tough life. Lots of people have tough lives but they don’t behave like you. It doesn’t give you the right to chase people with needles.”

Ms Guildford said Rutherford was put on the suspended prison sentence on October 26 for 12 months.

Four weeks later she went into the Asda store on Bower Road, Harrogate, at 3.30pm on November 24. She had shoplifted in the store in the past and the store manager recognised her.

While she was in the store, Rutherford broke two plant pots worth together £20. The incident with the store manager left him with nightmares that woke him at night. 

Ms Wilks said that though Rutherford had not co-operated with attempts to help her in the past she now accepted she had to tackle her alcohol and drug abuse if she was to have a more positive future.

She accepted a probation service assessment that the safest place for her was in prison.