Rugby man punched cashier and threw a bottle at him after he tried to stop him from shoplifting

A Rugby man punched a cashier and threw a bottle at him after he tried to stop him from shoplifting.

But the court concluded that the offence was ‘just below a robbery.’

Jamie Maunder had pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to robbing the night cashier at the Esso service station in Leicester Road, Rugby.

And that plea was accepted by prosecutor Edmund Blackman after Maunder pleaded guilty at a later hearing to alternative charges of theft and assault.

Maunder (22) of Brand Road, Rugby, was jailed for 15 months – consecutive to a 20-month sentence he is already serving for having an offensive weapon and assaulting an emergency worker.

Mr Blackman said that at five in the morning on 10 October 2019 Maunder and another man went into the Esso petrol station and made a legitimate purchase before leaving.

But they returned just five minutes later, and Maunder picked up bottles of vodka from a shelf and headed to the door.

The cashier quickly locked the door remotely, and when he realised he could not get out, Maunder put the bottles down.

They were picked up by his companion who carried them to the counter and put them down, as though he was about to pay for them.

But Maunder then went behind the counter and threw a bottle at the cashier, although it missed, and then punched him to the head two or three times.

He took something from a shelf behind the counter and headed back to the door which his accomplice tried to kick open – so the cashier unlocked it and they left with some of the vodka.

Mr Blackman commented: “Robbery is no longer indicted because the theft appeared to be complete before the violence occurred, but the Crown say it was just below robbery.”

He added that Maunder had previous convictions for violence, and in September last year he was jailed for separate incidents of having an offensive weapon and assaulting an emergency worker.

Graeme Simpson, defending, made the point: “This is an assault and a theft, and that is what Your Honour will sentence him on.

“He is 23 next week, still a young man, and his most serious conviction, a robbery, was when he was a youth.

“This offence is certainly far from sophisticated and was in full view of more than one camera.

“He lives alone, and he has worked doing labouring-type work since leaving school.

“His problem is binging on drink and on drugs. He does not drink every day, but binges on occasions.

“He has used cocaine and cannabis on a regular basis, but since being incarcerated he has sought help for his abuse of alcohol and drugs.

“If he does put these issues behind him, the likelihood is there will be no further offending.”

Jailing Maunder, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “It is not the first time you have used violence. There has been a persistence to your offending.

“He was working at a petrol station, providing a service to the community. The courts are determined to protect people like that from people like you who believe they can take advantage of their vulnerability.”