Dramatic footage shows the moment a bungling burglar was found hiding in a bedroom wardrobe by police officers.
Hapless crook Ashley Bowen was aggressive on arrest, said he had AIDS and spat in the police van as he was taken away.
Stoke on Trent Crown Court heard Bowen along with an unknown accomplice, broke into a Co-op store in Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, to steal cigarettes and cash.
The 29-year-old had used a crowbar to access the shop just before midnight and tried to use an angle grinder to get into the cigarette cabinet, Stoke On Trent Live reports.
But after numerous failed attempts to access the cabinet, Bowen from Bentilee, turned his attention to an ATM within the store but again failed to get into it.
The pair had caused £5,000 worth of damage, while the shop lost £9,000 of takings while repairs had to be carried out.
He fled the scene empty-handed before going on the run from police for more than a month before he was rumbled and discovered in a wardrobe at and address in Bentilee on January 18.
The court heard the break-in happened around six months after Bowen hit his ex-partner with a claw hammer and smashed up her car.
Prosecutor Katie Fox said the victim of the assault had been in a relationship with him from 2015 until the end of 2018.
On May 28 last year she returned home and he was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in an alleyway behind her home.
Miss Fox said: "He called her a rat. A short time later she went outside to find him parked at the end of her drive.
"He revved his engine and drove into the back of her car. He got out the van holding a claw hammer. He called her a slut and a bitch. He struck her with the hammer to the ankle.
"He moved over to her car and laughed as he smashed the windows and dented the body work. He got in the van and drove towards her. He mounted the kerb and up on a grassy bank. She jumped out the way to avoid being hit."
Speaking about the burglary, Miss Fox said: “They forced their way in through the front sliding doors. The defendant was seen to go straight to the secure area behind the till where the cigarettes were kept.
"He spent some time trying to open the cigarette box and used a crowbar but was unsuccessful. He left the shop and returned with an angle grinder. But he failed to take any items.
“The pair turned their attention to the cash machine but were unsuccessful.”
Bowen admitted damaging property and burglary as well as assault by beating, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance in relation to other incidents.
He also admitted obstructing a police officer on January 18.
He was jailed for 18 months for the December 3 burglary, plus two months for damaging property. Bowen was sentenced to a further 10 months for dangerous driving.
Judge David Fletcher also disqualified him from driving for 27 months and order him to take an extended driving test.
Detective Constable David Stubbs, from Staffordshire Police CID, said: “Bowen persisted in his efforts to get cigarettes from the store but we persisted in our efforts to catch him.
“Those who commit crime will be brought to justice.”
