Bell pepper thief turned up to court drunk on cider, threatened police and boasted 'I love prison'
A man turned up to court drunk on cider, threatened police and boasted "I love prison" days after he stole a single pepper from Aldi and threatened a staff member there too.
Elliot Curley, aged 36, admitted threatening a deputy manager at Oswestry's Aldi store and then making a drunken nuisance of himself at Shrewsbury Crown Court four days later.
He was even prosecuted for the theft of the red bell pepper - valued at 45p.
Telford Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday that Curley went to the Aldi shop in Beatrice Street on July 27 last year - despite having been banned from the shop earlier that month under the terms of a criminal behaviour order for a previous incident.
He was confronted by deputy manager James Powell who asked him to leave, prosecutor Sara Beddow told the court.
"He became argumentative and said 'why should I?' He said 'back off lad, or I'm going to shove those glasses up your head'.
"Mr Powell then walked towards the exit to inform [nearby] police officers of the problem.
"Mr Powell feared that violence would be used against him."
While the deputy manager was talking to the police, Curley was seen to grab a red bell pepper from a display, pocket it and walk out of the shop without buying it.
He was arrested in front of the supermarket. He was interviewed and answered 'no comment' to questions, and bailed to a later court date.
