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Needle wielding drug addict jailed for Dundee salon robbery

Dundee Sheriff Court.
Dundee Sheriff Court.

A beauty therapist has spoken of the terrifying moment a needle wielding drug addict robbed her newly opened business.

Margaret McManus told of her horror when Christopher Rennie thrust an uncapped hypodermic in the face of her colleague, hairdresser Rachel Burns, at their Meadowside premises Midas Touch.

Rennie, 30, a prisoner at Perth Prison, was sentenced to three years in prison for the assault and robbery on June 12.

Margaret told The Courier she was relieved to know Rennie was back behind bars but said three years wasn’t enough time for what he did.

She said: “We are totally relieved but I wouldn’t say three years is enough for someone who put a needle in her face.

“She was sitting at reception when he came in and said ‘cash’ and showed her the needle.

“She handed him the cash box but he dropped the needle on the way out.”

Rennie made off with a cash box containing just £25 in the early morning raid which left his victim shaken and upset.

Margaret said: “I am glad he has been caught and jailed so quickly because Rachel was very shaken by the incident. Also we had only been open a few weeks and it could have put her off working here, but thankfully it didn’t.

“We had only been open for 10 minutes. What was he expecting to get at that time of the morning?”

When Rennie appeared for sentencing at Dundee Sheriff Court on Friday, his defence solicitor said that although he had a lengthy record the offence was an ‘all-time low.’

He said: “He carried out the offence with no thought at all. This was a robbery first thing in the morning and anyone would realise they wouldn’t have any takings at that time and he got away with very little.”

He said Rennie had struggled with drug addiction and homelessness but has a “desire to change his ways.” He added: “When he was a teenager on one occasion his address was given to the court as a shed in his friend’s garden.

“He is a drug addict living on the street who regularly becomes involved in crimes of dishonesty. At times he has a knife on him. He had no previous for robbery. He has two previous offences for violence, one of those for serious assault and one for minor assault.”

Sheriff George Way said despite the seriousness of the offence he saw “glimmers of hope” in Rennie.

He said: “You appreciate that entering a shop early in the morning and presenting an uncapped needle must have been absolutely terrifying for staff.

“It is more the fact that you were prepared to do anything by arming yourself. This is the lowest point you have got to.

“I would be failing in my duty to the public and those working in shops if my primary concern was not to deter this kind of offending. No one doubts the demons of drugs but what you did will have consequences. With your record you could easily get the maximum sentence of five years, but I am not going to do that.”

Rennie, who was on licence at the time of the offence, was returned to prison for 14 months and sentenced to an additional 23 months for the robbery.

He was also told he would be subject to a 12-month supervision order on his release.