An alcohol thief assaulted a shopkeeper as she tried to stop him from getting away with the goods.

The female worker bravely tackled Tyrone Letremy as he tripped up on his way out of the Dewsbury store with the bottles of stolen brandy and vodka.

The father of seven stole after relapsing back into heroin use and pleaded guilty to theft and assault.

Kirklees magistrates heard that the incident at Denny’s Mini Market happened on May 6.

Letremy entered the Heckmondwike Road shop and asked the shopkeeper for the bottles of spirits, prosecutor Alex Bozman said.

He told magistrates: “The victim put these down on the counter, he distracted her and snatched the bottles.

“He ran off out of the door but fell over and dropped the vodka bottle.

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“Then he was grabbed by the victim and pushed her away, causing her to fall over and sustain minor injuries.”

Letremy, of Union Street in Heckmondwike, managed to get away with the bottle of brandy but was then later identified via the store’s CCTV footage.

The 50-year-old shopkeeper suffered injuries to her back, arms, hands and legs as a result of the assault.

Letremy, 33, tested positive for the misuse of Class A drugs following his arrest. He is a serving prisoner following his recent 15-month custodial sentence imposed by Leeds Crown Court.

Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

Catherine McCullough, mitigating, told magistrates that he regretted assaulting the shop worker as she grabbed him.

She added: “He has a long-standing addiction to heroin and had got it under control to an extent.

“But in the months leading up to the offences his drug use had increased.

“He has seven children and got to the stage that he took himself out of the family home because he didn’t want to use drugs in front of the children.

“He’s remorseful that he’s let them down.”

Bench chairman Brian Castle told Letremy that he had a terrible record.

He added: “This assault was on a shopkeeper trying to protect her own goods.”

Letremy was jailed for 12 weeks to run concurrently with his existing sentence, meaning that he will serve no extra jail time.

He will still have to pay £115 victim surcharge upon his release from prison.