A homeless man threatened a Tesco security guard with an ‘elderly’ Swiss Army knife.

Thomas Garrity later told police that he had meant to pull his phone from his jacket pocket but instead pulled out the lock knife.

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver told Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday morning – Garrity’s 34th birthday - that the defendant went into the city centre Tesco shop in Magdalen Street at 10.30am on October 18.

He toured the shop, putting cleaning products into a red plastic bag. He was seen when he picked up a final item – a chocolate bar – and staff went to get the bag from him.

When a security guard went to help the store staff, Garrity pulled the knife from his pocket and allegedly said: “I’m going to ****ing kill you.”

Ms Olliver said: “The security guard could clearly see the knife down by Mr Garrity’s side.

“The guard immediately took a step back, walking back into the store believing he would be stabbed if he tried to detain him.”

Arrested a while later and interviewed by the police, he candidly admitted he went into Tesco to steal items in order to raise money for drugs.

He denied threatening to kill the security guard and suggested he had intended to pull his phone from his pocket rather than a knife.

Mitigating, defence barrister Peter du Feu said his client no longer stood by the account he gave to the police.

Garrity, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to threatening with a knife, possession of a bladed article and theft.

The court heard he had limited convictions, including harassment of his sister and an offence under the Vagrancy Act.

That he was not more heavily convicted went to his credit, Mr du Feu told Judge Michael Gledhill KC on Tuesday. He had spent the past five years living on the streets and taking heroin and crack cocaine.

Mr du Feu charted his client’s ‘complicated background’. As a child he went with his parents to France, where he had ‘materially a good upbringing but it was cold emotionally’.

He enjoyed a seven year relationship and his partner gave birth to their child. “Tragically his daughter died at the age of eight months. That is really what set in train [events leading to] where he is sitting today.”

He returned to England after the tragedy. Efforts to reconnect with his family were rebuffed and even led to a conviction for harassment, when he left a large number of missed calls trying to get hold of his mother’s number through his sister.

Having left school without qualifications and spent five years on the streets, he was making the best of his time on remand – completing a number of educational courses.

Sentencing him, Judge Gledhill said nobody could be ‘anything but sympathetic’ to the way the defendant’s life had panned out.

“It’s an absolutely dreadful day outside. The weather is forecast for the next few days is appalling and the thought of sending you out of this court into a doorway or worse is very difficult to even contemplate,” he added.

Sending him to prison for 10 months, the judge said he hoped Garrity could spend the time preparing to turn his life around on his release.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward