AN opportunist thief fled with a handful of notes - and sore fingers - after snatching takings from a till drawer.
An assistant at Iceland's Market Place branch in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, closed the till on Clifford Martin Atkinson when he made his grab after she served a customer.
Durham Crown Court was told that Atkinson, who was standing behind the cashier, pushed her back and was able to prise his hand free from the till, escaping with £55 in the January incident.
Yesterday, he admitted theft and failing to appear at a previous hearing.
Aisha Wadoudi, mitigating, said that 29-year-old Atkinson, of Middlewood Avenue, St Helen Auckland, was from an estate where many people were committing crime "and he just became involved".
Jailing him for six months, Judge Maurice Carr told Atkinson that such crimes caused alarm to shop attendants and merited custodial sentences
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article