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A shoplifter who "repeatedly headbutted" a supermarket security guard when confronted after picking up alcohol has begun a jail term.

Joshua Turner, 22, was given a 20-week prison term at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court after admitting to assaulting the guard at a Morrisons in Walton, Peterborough.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary described the attack as "awful" and said the severity of the offence had been reflected in the sentence.

Turner has also been ordered to pay £150 compensation to the security guard.

'Swung a bottle'

The police said Turner picked up two bottles of alcohol, worth a total of £67, on 3 July.

He had gone to leave without paying and swung a bottle at the guard when he was confronted.

Five days later he returned to the supermarket and picked up two more bottles of alcohol, worth a total of £66.

When Turner was confronted, he repeatedly headbutted the same guard before running off.

Turner, of no fixed address, had been arrested shortly afterwards in a Sainsbury's after being detained by staff as a result of trying to steal £214 worth of vodka, police said.

He was sentenced at the magistrates' court in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on 13 July.

A court official said Turner had admitted to assault and theft and had been handed a 20-week jail term and ordered to pay £150 compensation to the security guard.

Officers said Turner had been in breach of a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), which had been imposed in January.

They described him as a "prolific shoplifter" and said the CBO meant he was banned from entering any Co-Op, Tesco or TK Maxx in Peterborough.

“The assaults that the security guard went through for trying to do his job is awful, and I am glad that this is reflected in Turner receiving a custodial sentence as no-one should be made to feel intimidated or fear violence in the workplace," said PC Andrew Holland, who investigated, after the court hearing.

“Thanks to the greater powers that come with the CBO, we are able to arrest Turner every time he is found to breach the order and put him back before the courts.”

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