A PROLIFIC thief has been jailed and banned from entering a county supermarket for the next two years.

Dominic Russell appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, where he pleaded guilty to three offences committed within Asda on Tranent High Street.

The court was told that an employee who was working within the premises became aware of Russell at about 12.45pm on April 26 last year.

The employee approached the accused man and the court heard that he began to act aggressively towards her, resulting in the employee attempting to contact the police using a store telephone.

Russell, of High Street, Musselburgh, then “attempted to grab the phone” from the woman's grasp but she managed to keep hold of the device.

She shouted to fellow employees to activate the superstore’s panic alarm and Russell was said to have left the area before police could apprehend him.

The court was told that Russell later returned to the store the same day, where the employee spotted him on the CCTV system attempting to leave the premises with two shavers he had not paid for.

This time, police arrived on the scene in time to apprehend the thief and 47-year-old Russell was arrested and charged; he made no reply to the caution.

Russell’s lawyer said that, at the time of the offending, her client was suffering from “addiction issues” and he “did not have a full recollection of the incident”.

The court heard that the thief had been in hospital recently due to ill health and had been engaging with drug addiction services while on remand in prison.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll acknowledged that Russell had “a long offending history” and said he was content not to call for background reports and instead sentence the offender on the day.

Russell was jailed for a total of six months, commencing from Monday, and he was given an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) banning him from entering the Asda store in Tranent for the next two years.

Russell pleaded guilty to assaulting the employee  by attempting to seize an item from her, shouting, acting in an aggressive manner and stealing a quantity of toiletries, all at Asda, High Street, Tranent, on April 26 last year.