A FRIGHTENING attack on a young shop assistant in Chiddingfold was part of a campaign of robberies to feed the crack cocaine addiction of a 25-year-old man, a court heard this week.
Matthew Poole, of no fixed abode, who pleaded guilty to three robberies and two burglaries was jailed for a total of 10 years.
He had asked for 74 other offences to be taken into account including 29 robberies, three attempted robberies, 25 burglaries, one attempted burglary, 12 vehicle crimes and four thefts across Surrey, with his main targets off-licences and mini-markets.
He was armed with knives, screwdrivers, metal bars and scissors and the victims of his attacks were often teenage girl shop assistants or elderly women. They were left terrified by his attacks as he snatched money from shop tills, Guildford Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
Poole targeted the Chiddingfold Spar store during one evening last November. Wielding an iron bar he burst into the shop, threatened the 19-year-old assistant and demanded money from the till. He forced her to hand over £250 and fled from the shop.
Jailing Poole, Judge John Bull QC told him: "These robberies were calculated and planned. You wore a balaclava and scarf to hide your face. You chose shops which you might have expected to have an amount of cash on the premises and which were vulnerable.
"Your behaviour could have a lasting psychological impact on your victims."
Michael Jones, prosecuting, told the court of the first robbery to which Poole pleaded guilty, which took place on November 29 when he threatened a 16-year-old girl shop assistant with an eight-inch screwdriver.
Robert Colover, defending, pointed out that although Poole had threatened his victims with knives or a screwdriver, there had been no physical contact between him and his victims.
If any of the shop assistants refused or resisted he immediately left the premises.
In the summer of last year, Poole had become homeless and in October last year he found accommodation with a couple who used crack cocaine and that was his downfall.
He was encouraged to begin the robberies by the people who were supplying him with drugs.
The habit was costing him between £150 and £250 a day.
He now acknowledged that the robberies must have had an awful affect on his victims and on their lives.
He wished to apologise to all of them.He had helped the police by trying to identify the places he had robbed but he had difficulties in remembering all of them, because of the drugs he had been taking.
He may have been acting as a result of drug-induced psychosis.
Among the other offences that Poole asked to be taken into consideration were a number of attacks on shops and off-licences and the theft last November of a Renault Clio from Alton.
He also owned up to threatening the post mistress at Pinewood Post Office, Guildford Road, Ash, with a knife before trying to force open the safe. He ran off when a male member of staff entered the premises.
In a statement following the case, police officers investigating the crimes said that even as experienced detectives they were amazed and appalled at the sheer number of serious offences committed by Poole in order to satisfy his drug addiction.
Although none of his victims was injured during the robberies, many they said were left extremely shocked and frightened by their ordeal.
In all, 15 victims identified Poole after it took police officers six days of interviews with him to identify all 79 offences.
The sentence he was given, said the police, was an indication of the danger Poole was to society.