Shropshire man's shop outburst a plea to be arrested

Adam James Moorcroft later told police he did not want to live in Cleobury Mortimer and wanted to move to Telford where he would be happier.

Mr Mike Phillips, prosecuting, told Telford magistrates that Moorcroft had briefly entered the Tuffins shop in High Street, Cleobury Mortimer, and left.

But he returned to the shop and shouted "Everybody get on the floor".

The 30-year-old defendant then began to jump around the store with his fists clenched, smashing a display of Cadbury Creme Eggs and shelves of snacks. He then grabbed a customer in a headlock before releasing him and running out of the shop.

Mr Phillips said that Moorcroft, who was banned from entering various shops in the town by a criminal behaviour order, later told the police in an interview that he did not like living in Cleobury Mortimer.

The court was told he wanted to move away and live in Telford, where he had been living a few months previously.

Moorcroft, of Childe Road, Cleobury Mortimer, admitted causing criminal damage, a charge of common assault and breaching a criminal behaviour order when he appeared at Telford Magistrates Court.

He was given a 12-month community order with 40 hours of unpaid work and a 40-day rehabilitation requirement to cover all the offences. He was ordered to pay costs of £85, a £60 victim surcharge and £4.38 in compensation for the Creme Eggs.

Mr Dean Easthope, for Moorcroft, said he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had been in custody since his arrest the day after the incident on April 9.

He said Moorcroft had been known to mental health workers for the past 12 years.

"He went there with the view to get arrested. He didn't really have a plan of what he was going to do," he said.

Mr Easthope said Moorcroft had moved to live with a friend in Telford but, following a false report about a firearm, his friend said Moorcroft could no longer live there.

Moorcroft had got "carried away" during his outburst and had grabbed a passer-by in a headlock, said Mr Easthope who added that, although he did not want to trivialise the assault, the defendant had immediately let go when the victim shouted.