Wellingborough robber tampered with cash machine

Christoper Taylor, 36, admitted theft and criminal damage after the incident at an unnamed Tesco Express in Wellingborough in the early hours of August 20.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Northampton Crown Court heard Taylor, of Cowper Road, used a bank card to withdraw money from an ATM outside the shop.

But CCTV then caught him using tools including a knife and coat hanger to try and prise open the dispenser.

Prosecuting, Priya Bakshi said: "CCTV showed him coming and going, trying to break in, for one-and-a-half hours."

Taylor, who appeared at court via videolink, caused damage estimated at about £1,000 to the cash machine.

The court heard the paranoid schizophrenic has 15 convictions for 24 offences dating back to 1997.

One of those was for robbery in March 2018, for which he was on a suspended sentence when he tried to steal money from the cash machine.

Miss Bakshi said he asked someone for 60p but as they got their wallet out to give he demanded it and threatened to stab him before snatching it and running off.

Mitigating, Daniel Green said Taylor's motivation was to get money for drugs.

He said: "It's hard to know where to begin your honour.

"He is someone who does suffer with his mental health and that affects his choices in life."

Judge Rupert Mayo imposed 18 months of Taylor's suspended sentence and added an extra four months for the attempted theft.

Taylor will spend half of his 22-month sentence in prison with the remainder on licence.