Hammer-wielding stalker obsessed by Leeds Co-op worker caused £43,000 of damage to the shop
He became “fixated” on staff member
A stalker who refused to leave a shop worker alone smashed the store up with a hammer in anger, causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Stephen Reith used the weapon to attack the fridges at Co-op in Swarcliffe after his advances were spurned.
The 44-year-old admitted charges of stalking and criminal damage at Leeds Crown Court today.
Prosecutor Vincent Blake-Barnard said Reith had been a regular at the Swarcliffe Avenue shop, buying vodka and orange juice daily, and without problem.
But in March the former plasterer left a note for one of the workers, providing his number and asking her to ring him.
However, when she failed to do so, he wrote her another.
He regularly came back to the shop until the manager finally approached him and said the letters were not appropriate.
After saying he he would stop attending the shop, Reith still continued to return.
Then on April 5, he entered the premises intoxicated and with a hammer and followed the terrified female worker around. He left but returned four times, forcing the woman to hide in the back of the shop.
On April 13 he returned one final time and began to smash up the units, walking up and down the aisles before leaving the store.
The police arrived and found the hammer, covered in blood, at his nearby home.
Reith was found outside where he was abusive to officers who took him to the ground.
The clean-up and repair bill from the Co-op came to £43,000. The shop had to be closed for two days.
The court heard that Reith, of no fixed address, had been convicted of stalking a previous partner for sending her repeated messages.
He appeared in court over a video link from HMP Leeds where he has been held on remand since his arrest.
Mitigating, Andrea Parnham said he was former plasterer who had to give up his job because of elbow and shoulder issues.
She described him as an “intelligent and articulate” man who wanted to work again.
Judge Kate Rayfield told Reith he had a “fixation” with the worker but said due to him being held on remand for almost seven months, passing an immediate custodial sentence would mean his immediate release because of the sentencing guidelines.
Instead, she gave him a two year community order with a 12-month alcohol-treatment requirement, a 12-month exclusion zone requirement to prevent him from entering the Co-op and a 12-month GPS trail-monitoring requirement.
He was also handed a five-year restraining order.