Shopper threatens to kill Sports Direct staff at city centre store
A shopper threatened to kill security staff at a shop in Cardiff city centre after they asked him to leave due to him being banned. He hit out at mannequins in the store, thinking they were security guards.
Russell Fry, 47, attended the Sports Direct store in Queen Street on June 14 when he was recognised by security as someone who was banned from the store. They asked him to leave but he refused and did not cooperate.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard the defendant threatened to kill staff members in the shop and kicked out a mannequin, thinking it was a member of security staff. Prosecutor Harriet Ealden Fry told staff they had "no right" to put their hands on him, said "f*** the law" and said he "hated South Wales Police" as they took the side of the shop.
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Fry, of East Grove, Roath, later pleaded guilty to threats to kill and criminal damage. The court heard he had 22 previous convictions for offences committed between 1992 and 2024. Representing himself, the defendant claimed the prosecution was "lying" about the offence, and said security had wrongly accused him of being a shoplifter.
Judge Eugene Egan sentenced Fry to a two-year community order. He was also made subject to a 20 day rehabilitation activity requirement.
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