A pair of boozed-up thieves behaved like ‘animals’ when they went on a violent rampage after being confronted when trying to leave a supermarket without paying.

John Bridgewater and Liam Hunter reacted violently when they were approached by security staff at Morrisons in Hartlepool – biting, hitting and throwing bottles at staff and police.

During the ‘terrible display of violence’ they fought with staff, threw booze at people and wrestled with police officers, with one suffering a bite wound to his shoulder, when they arrived at the chaotic scene.

CCTV shown at Teesside Crown Court captured the violent incident as it unfolded at around 9am on April 27 this year.

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A judge branded the pair animals as he jailed them for their disgraceful behaviour.

Recorder Richard Wright QC said: “When members of staff in the store, simply doing their best to serve the public, had the temerity to challenge you for the thefts you were about the commit, the pair of you immediately began to behave as a pair of animals.

“You were smashing objects, throwing items at members of staff, and resorting to violence on being challenged. It was violence that was sustained and serious.

“Any member of the public witnessing that terrible display of violence would have been horrified by your behaviour.”

Annelise Haugstad, prosecuting, told the court how Bridgewater bit the store manager on the wrist as he wrestled with him on the floor after slipping on booze spilled on the floor after a number of bottles smashed during the melee.

Mis Haugstad said Hunter threw a melon at a woman shop worker before picking up boxes of lager and smashing the bottles and then throwing another box at another shop worker.

The court was told that Hunter plunged his teeth into the shoulder of a police staff investigator who attended the scene.

Bridgewater, 35, of Chappell Hill Road, Peterlee, was jailed for two years and three months after admitting a catalogue of offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, affray, assault an emergency worker and theft.

His co-accused, 24-year-old Hunter, of Branding Court, Shotton Colliery, was jailed for two years for his role in the incident. He had pleaded guilty to theft, common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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Martin Scarborough, representing Bridgewater, told the court his client was intoxicated at the time of the violent incident and had been using alcohol to self-medicate himself after suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

While Daniel Ingham, on behalf of Hunter, has urged the judge to suspend his client’s sentence.

He added: “He has offered his apologies to all those affected by his behaviour.”

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