Karen Jones, 43, has been handed a 38-month prison sentence at Swansea Crown Court for holding up a Premier store in Cwmdu with a large kitchen knife, only two weeks after she had been let out of prison.
The mother of five, of no fixed abode, appeared by videolink from prison to be sentenced, having already admitted:
- Robbery
- Threatening with a bladed article in a public place
- Two counts of assaulting an emergency worker
The sentence
Judge Paul Thomas KC imposed 36 months for the robbery and knife offences. He added a further two months for the assaults on the police officers, to run consecutively. Both terms reflected one-third reductions for her guilty pleas. Jones will spend one-third of the total in custody before being released on licence to serve the rest in the community.
What happened inside the shop
Prosecutor Abul Hussain said Jones went into the store on Middle Road on 29 September, picked out a bottle of wine and carried it to the till. Once there, she pulled out the knife and waved it at the shopkeeper.
She then snatched the wine and headed for the door. The shopworker chased after her and struck her with a stool.
The confrontation outside
Out on the street, Jones swung the blade at the shopkeeper and threatened to stab him, the court was told. Passers-by approached her and “tried to reason with her”, urging her to let go of the weapon.
Police were called. Officers found her sitting on steps nearby, still holding both the knife and the wine.
Spitting at officers
Mr Hussain said Jones went along with the officers at first but then turned verbally abusive and threatening. At Swansea Central police station, she spat in the face of a female officer and spat towards a second officer. A spit hood was then put over her head.
Why she did it
Interviewed afterwards, Jones accepted she had threatened to stab the shopkeeper and said her aim was to be sent back to prison. She told officers she was homeless and needed help with alcohol and drug issues. She warned that if she was not sent to prison she would “look to hurt someone”.
Her record
Jones has five previous convictions covering 16 offences, including shoplifting, theft, fraud, battery and assaulting emergency workers. Her latest release from prison had followed a conviction for shoplifting, assaulting a shopworker and assaulting police.
The defence
John Allchurch, representing Jones, said she was “homeless and destitute” and had been open with officers about why she committed the offence. He told the court her five children live with their grandparents and are “rarely seen by the defendant”.
The judge’s remarks
Judge Thomas said he wondered whether, now 43, Jones felt the time had come to break her pattern of offending. He suggested she start building a relationship with her children before her drinking caused herself “a great deal of harm… or worse”.
He told her that only she could make the changes needed, and said he hoped she would find the strength to do so.
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