Kettering shop worker feared the worst after needle jab

The member of staff at B&Q in Meadow Road bravely tackled Katie Nolan and her two accomplices after they helped themselves to items for the fourth time in five days.

Nolan, 33, was arrested, charged and remanded in custody - only to convince judge Rebecca Crane to grant her bail. Weeks later whilst she was still on bail she took part in a terrifying armed robbery at the Co-op in Broughton where staff members were threatened with a claw hammer and baseball bat and jailed for five years.

The drug user was given further jail time for the incidents at B&Q and on Wednesday (November 6) Northampton Crown Court heard her role in a series of thefts.

On each occasion Nolan would stand in the doorway, effectively acting as a lookout, whilst her brother Kallum and an un-named man would steal.

On February 27 this year they stole 23 carbon monoxide detectors worth more than £600 before returning the next day and helping themselves to a drill.

Hours later they returned and stole three more drills worth hundreds of pounds.

They came back on March 3 but a staff member clocked them and was involved in a struggle with Katie Nolan, who was holding the stolen items.

Nolan, now of HMP Peterborough, said: "I will get you stabbed you fat cow! Fat cow, hope you have a heart attack."

The staff member saw a metal glint and felt a sharp pain in her finger. She had suffered a puncture wound from a needle.

The woman was forced to take medication because nobody knew what diseases may have been in the needle.

Prosecuting, John Hallissey said: "She was unable to sleep properly because she feared she may have caught something as unpleasant as AIDS or HIV."

Mitigating, Scott Brady said Nolan wanted to get her life back on track.

Judge Michael Fowler handed Nolan an extra three months in prison.

She is also banned from going to B&Q in Meadow Road.