Knifeman who stole 12kg of protein powder is jailed

Craig Moores, 29, was on bail at the time. Three months earlier, he’d been stopped behind the wheel of a green Rover while high on cocaine. A machete was found underneath the driver’s seat and a lock knife in the car’s centre console.

Sending him down for six months at Swindon Crown Court yesterday, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “I agree this was an offence where there was no production or threats with the bladed articles that were charged. However, you were in possession of two blades in a vehicle and that they were immediately to hand and you had consumed class A drugs.”

Craig Moores Picture: WILTSHIRE POLICE

Prosecutor Stephen Dent earlier told the court police had found Moores and another man in a green Rover parked up in the forecourt of a BP garage on the A350 near Chippenham on New Year’s Day 2020. The back window was smashed.

Moores was asleep in the driver’s seat. When he got out of the car a crack pipe fell to the floor. Inside the vehicle, police found two knives – a machete and a lock knife. The defendant later tested positive for cocaine at Melksham police station.

He was bailed by the police. Three months later, on March 25, he was caught stealing three 4kg bags of protein powder from a Trowbridge Home Bargains store.

When staff confronted him he got out of his car and approached them with what later transpired to be a car key in his hand, although at the time the store workers feared it was a weapon.

One of the staff members said Moores had smiled at him when he was only 2ft away. “I remembered thinking he’s actually going to gut me.”

He answered no comment to questions when he was interviewed by police.

Moores, of Millhand Villas, Trowbridge, admitted possession of a blade, shoplifting and disorderly behaviour likely to cause fear of violence. He had a conviction in 2016 for possession of a blade and offensive weapon, meaning he fell foul of rules requiring a mandatory minimum sentence of six months’ imprisonment.

Alistair Haggerty, mitigating, asked the judge to consider imposing a suspended sentence order. He said his client had been addicted to drugs since childhood, with much of his offending in the past linked to his habit.

Since the offences were committed, he had been working closely with charity Turning Point to address his drug addiction. His partner, the mother of his two children, noted the substantial improvements he had made. He took his children to and from school. Mr Haggerty said Moores had never been given a drug rehabilitation order.

Asking the judge to impose a suspended sentence order, Mr Haggerty said: “He would have to accept he’d in the last chance saloon and the call for last orders has been made.”

Judge Crabtree said the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence would suffice, noting that Moores had had a number of suspended sentences in the past and they had not had an impact.