Jail for addict caught with heroin, cocaine and a knife in Wolverhampton
A drug addict who went on a one-man crime spree has been jailed for 22 months.
Raphael Scarlett committed a dozen offences in two months, a judge was told.
The 35-year-old pulled out a Stanley knife and threatened to stab a security guard who tried to stop him escaping with a haul of chocolate from a Sainsbury’s Local in Wolverhampton City Centre’s Victoria Street on April 20.
The guard, who challenged the defendant as he got onto a bicycle outside the shop, later told police: “He dropped the chocolates as I pulled him from the bike and he shouted ‘let me go or I will stab you’.
“Then I saw him produce something green from a pocket and I grabbed hold of the wrist of the hand that was holding the item.
"A security guard from the bus station came to help and we held him until the police arrived. They took him away in handcuffs.”
The green item turned out to be a Stanley knife and he was also found to be carrying heroin and cocaine.
The next day, after being released following questioning, he was held again after a bust up with another officer prompting him to be remanded in custody, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Scarlett’s previous offending had been so prolific he was excluded from part of the Black Country but his latest spree of law breaking started when he broke the ban on March 26 to steal a drill from Homebase in Oldbury, the court heard.
On April 11 he caused £600 damage to the window of Morrisons in Dudley when he hurled a brick at the store and ran off after being foiled while trying to steal a sandwich. Hours later he stole £115 worth of clothes from Next.
The next day he got away with several bottles of washing liquid from Heron Foods in Great Bridge, continued prosecutor Mr Andrew Tucker.
Mr John Evans, defending, explained: “He has been in the grip of drug addiction for a long time and has not been able to break the habit.
"He needs money and the easy way of doing that is shoplifting.”
Scarlett, of no fixed address, admitted breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order, several thefts, criminal damage, possession of a blade and resisting a Pc and was jailed.
