Burglar who sprayed staff with pepper spray jailed

A man who burgled a shop and sprayed a member of staff with pepper spray before making off has been jailed for over six years.
 

Kevan Shaw, 52, of Scott Lidgett Road, broke into K & N News and Booze on Hamil Road in 2018 and took around £4,000.
 
The court heard that at around 6.15am on Thursday September 6 2018, the manager was woken by the sound of the alarm and alerted his two nephews.
 
His nephew walked downstairs and confronted Shaw before he sprayed his face with CS spray and made off.
 
Just before 7pm on 30 October 2018, Shaw was approached by an officer in his vehicle on Scott Lidgett Road. Shaw panicked and drove erratically into oncoming traffic before he crashed into a road barrier at Porthill roundabout.

Shaw was jailed today (16 January) at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to six years in jail for aggravated burglary and six months for dangerous driving. He was also disqualified from driving for four years and three months.
 
Detective Constable Naomi Kinnersley, of CID, said: “Thankfully, the victim who was sprayed by Shaw with pepper spray didn’t sustain serious injuries to his face.
 
“Though Shaw tried to make off from us when we went to visit him on 30 October, we persisted and we’ve now brought him to justice.”