A prolific Dundee shoplifter asked to be sent to prison after choking a Lidl worker and threatening to stab a Tesco employee with a needle.
Leanne Ellington arrived at Dundee Sheriff Court hoping to be given a jail term and said she had no interest in a community payback order.
The 40-year-old repeat offender was sentenced for a number of crimes in supermarkets, described as “appalling” by a sheriff.
It was revealed how on January 25 2023, Ellington threatened a staff member after being suspected of shoplifting at the Kingsway West Tesco.
Fiscal depute Carrie-Anne Mackenzie said Ellington, of Hazlehead Way, was noted to be behaving in an erratic manner.
Ellington said: “I am going to get my needle and stab you in the neck.”
When asked if this was a threat, she replied: “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”
On October 17 that year, Ellington was behaving in a similar fashion at Lidl, South Ward Road, when she struck a worker with an unknown item before seizing his colleague by the throat.
Ellington also admitted separate charges of stealing cosmetics from The Range, Stack Leisure Park, on January 18 2024 and making violent threats during an abusive incident on Meadowside on June 9 last year.
Solicitor Billy Watt said: “The needle threat was an empty threat, there never was a real danger but she appreciates her behaviour with retail staff clearly leaves a lot to be desired.”
Ellington’s alcohol abuse, Mr Watt added, had spiralled with his client also facing issues with her tenancy.
Sheriff Derek Reekie sentenced Ellington to a total of 11 months in prison for the four separate cases.
He said: “It’s accepted that there’s no suitable alternative but a custodial sentence.
“People working in retail shops have enough problems with people shoplifting without people resorting to threats like that.
“You assaulted two shop workers at the same time. You hit one of them and you seized a lady by the throat. Appalling behaviour.”
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