A bungling robber wrapped his face in a binbag before putting an empty crisp packet over one of his hands and walking into a bookmakers where he demanded they hand over cash.
James Dungey was told to ‘f*** off’ by the manager of the Coral bookies before turning on his heels and walking out empty-handed.
Minutes before his attempted robbery the 36-year-old carried out two shop thefts when he walked into the Co-op on West Auckland Road, Darlington, and picked up a box of Belgian chocolate eclairs before eating them.
Dungey returned to the shop minutes later where he picked up some ice cream and ate it as he again walked out of the shop without making any attempt to pay for it.
Teesside Crown Court heard how then loitered outside the nearby bookies where he was spotted acting suspiciously outside before entering and attempting to rob it.
Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said the short-lived attempted robbery was caught on CCTV inside the bookies and officers were able to identify him from footage collected from the Co-op.
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Dealing with the attempted robbery, she said: “The worker was checking money in the till when the defendant walked in, he had a bin bag pulled up over his face and nose.
“He approached the counter, he raised his right hand to the height of his shoulder and she noticed it was covered with a pink crisp packet obscuring whether he had anything in his hand or not.
“He walked over to the counter and she immediately closed the till, he said ‘I’m being serious put everything in the bag’ – she said she froze in fear because she didn’t know what he had in his hand and what he had just said to her.
“Her manager intervened and told the defendant to ‘f*** off’ and she went to press the emergency buzzer but she was frozen in shock.
“Somebody did press it and shouted for the police, the defendant turned away and said - ‘oh f***’ and left.”
In a victim impact statement, the woman working in Coral’s said: “I genuinely thought he was going to rob us, I was scared of what he may have had hiding in the crisp packet.”
Dungey, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and two charges of shop theft following his behaviour on May 25 this year.
James Fenny, in mitigation, said his client would welcome a custodial sentence to give him the opportunity to get his mental and physical health sorted out before his release from prison.
He told the judge that Dungey’s mother was prepared to let him live with her once he was released from custody.
Judge Christopher Smith jailed Dungey for a total of 18 months for all three offences.
He added: “She was very frightened, she didn’t know you weren’t armed with a weapon and that sort of fear put into shopkeepers and those who work in bookmakers can have a lasting impact on them.”
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