A MAN who threatened a shelf stacker with a screwdriver after he was caught stealing from a closed supermarket has been jailed.

Robert Gavin had broken into the Devizes branch of Sainsbury's while it was closed on a Sunday afternoon and started to help himself.

And when the 40-year-old Scot was confronted as he went to pick up a bottle of whisky he pretended he hadn't realised the store was closed.

But as he was being led out the worker realised Gavin had already loaded a bag with joints of meat and told him to stay where he was, when he pulled out the weapon.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the incident happened at the shop on Monday Market Street at 6.30pm on September 13.

She said when David Farrington spotted the him in the alcohol aisle and when confronted the intruder replied 'Are you not open?'.

He took him to the door where he found the bag and was threatened with the tool before the thief made off.

Mr Farrington then noticed that the lock on the door had been broken which was how the raider had got into the store.

When the defendant was arrested he initially told police his name was Reg Kerr but it was soon found out who he was and that he had a long record north of the border.

Gavin, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to burglary and possessing an offensive weapon when he appeared by video link from Bullingdon prison.

Representing himself he said: "I would like to apologise for my actions. On that weekend I was intoxicated through drinking alcohol."

He said he had been working down in the Devizes area for a few months and had gone out drinking and could recall little of what he had done.

Jailing him for eight months, Judge Tim Mousley QC said :"You have obviously got a problem with drink. I take into account that you have apologised.

"I also reduce the sentence as much as I can because you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity."

Detective Constable Kev Golledge, from Wiltshire Police, said: "This is a good result and proves that even with the simplest of crimes you will be caught.

"Thanks to our investigation, CCTV footage and hard work by our officers we were able to find this man swiftly."