A HEROIN addict is in jail today for threatening staff and trashing a shop he had already been banned from.Carl White, 33, of Glamorgan Road, Ipswich, committed the offences only a few days after being released from a previous jail term.

A HEROIN addict is in jail today for threatening staff and trashing a shop he had already been banned from.

Carl White, 33, of Glamorgan Road, Ipswich, committed the offences only a few days after being released from a previous jail term.

At South East Suffolk Magistrates Court, he admitted using threatening behaviour towards three female staff and causing criminal damage at the Co-op in Prince of Wales Drive on April 1.

Staff recognised the persistent offender and asked him to leave, but White became abusive.

Brave shop assistant Julia Moore, 47, said: "We asked White if we could help him but he started to get irate and I asked him to leave.

"He stank of drink and he was on something. He was very threatening towards all of us.

"He then spat in one of the girl's face and knocked a lot of stock off the shelf.

"I was completely covered in Chicken Tonight sauce."

The three women calmly ushered White out of the store and hit the panic button to alert the police.

Mrs Moore said: "We just kept watching him and walking with him until he was out of the shop."

Store manager Barry Collins had already banned White for an incident of suspected shop theft a few weeks before.

White also admitted a separate charge of shop theft from Allders on the following day.

Godfried Duah, prosecuting, said: "White stole two gift boxes from Allders worth £60 but was caught as he left the store and was then arrested."

Ian Duckworth, mitigating, said White was a persistent offender who needed drug treatment not a prison term.

He said: "It is a bit of a revolving door scenario with him being in and out of prison.

"He does have a chance of getting a methadone prescription.

"He had been drinking at the time, but if someone wants to get away from street drugs like Heroin they often get very drunk instead.

"Because he has an appointment for his prescription next week I ask that you give him a chance."

Sentencing, bench chairman Raymond Condon, said: "We find the aggravating feature is that you committed these offences soon after a prison sentence and you have breached a number of drug treatment orders.

"These offences are so serious that you will be sent back to prison for ten weeks."

nDo you think White's sentence was fair? Is prison the best answer to drug-fuelled crime? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk