JAIL TERM CUT FOR SUPERMARKET THIEF

A crook who carried out a series of raids on local shops in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, snatching money from tills when the cashiers opened them, has had his jail term cut on appeal by top judges.   The court heard that Karl Anthony Walsh, 38, “back-handed” a cashier and escaped with £380 at Sainsbury’s in London Road, Apsley, near Kings Langley.   He grabbed money from several supermarkets in towns near his home, on one occasion striking a female staff member in the nose with the back of his hand when she tried to stop him. His crime spree was brought to an end when members of the public arrested him in Morrisons, in Shefford, in February last year.   Walsh, of Rosefield Close, Luton, was jailed for two years at Luton Crown Court in June last year, having pleaded guilty to robbery, three charges of theft, one of attempted theft and one of common assault.   Today (Tuesday) Lady Justice Macur, Mr Justice Burton and Judge Paul Batty QC, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, reduced that term by nine weeks on appeal.   The court heard that Walsh carried out a raid at Sainsbury’s in High Street, Harpenden, where he snatched £290, and also made another failed attempt at the same shop.   He also took £100 cash from a till at Tesco’s in Flitwick and at Morrison’s, in Shefford, he was caught by members of the public, one of whom sustained a bite from the crook.   Lady Justice Macur today allowed his appeal against sentence, making a nine-week term for one of his thefts, carried out in January last year, run consecutively with the sentences for the other raids, because he had spent time on remand which had not been counted by the Crown Court judge.   The court’s order means his sentence will be reduced to a total of 95 weeks.