Shoplifter pulled knife on Sunderland Aldi store manager after stealing alcohol for the third day in a row

Luca Apreda had gone into Aldi in Sunderland on July 6 last year and helped himself to a bottle of vodka and did the same thing the following day.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 29-year-old went back on the third day, before the shop was open to the public and a cleaner told him it was shut.

Prosecutor Joe Hedworth told the court: "He went straight in through the exit door. She followed him and said to him 'son, you can't come in, the store is shut'.

"He selected a bottle and she asked him to hand over the bottle, to which he replied 'no, ******* move'.

"He then left the store with the bottle."

The court heard an assistant manager was alerted to what happened and followed Apreda to the shop's car park in a bid to get the bottle back.

Mr Hedworth added: "The defendant turned around and produced a knife from the pocket of his hoodie.

"The blade was exposed.

"The complainant realised he may be hurt in the circumstances and allowed the defendant to walk away, down a back lane to a nearby housing estate."

The manager said in a statement: "The store wasn't even open when the theft occurred. I am concerned for the safety of other shop workers should this male return."

Mr Hedworth said Apreda's thefts of the £9.99 bottles were all caught on CCTV.

Apreda, of Park Road, Sunderland, admitted three charges of theft and one of having a bladed article.

The court heard Apreda, who has abided by a curfew since last year, has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has alcohol dependent syndrome.

He is due to undergo neuro-psychological assessment to establish if his behaviour could be linked to a serious head injury in 2015.

Judge Julie Clemitson sentenced him to a community order for 12 months with an alcohol treatment requirement.

The judge told him: "You revealed a knife to someone lawfully trying to prevent you from stealing. Had he not backed away from that situation it could easily have escalated and ended up with someone being seriously or even fatally hurt."

Sue Hirst, defending, said: "He is perfectly willing to comply with any order and accept any assistance available to him."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.

How to subscribe to the print edition:

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of.

Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.