A criminal threatened to shoot a probation officer in the court cells ahead of being sentenced for two assaults – including one on a stranger in the street.
20-year-old Cody Rowley appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (6 October) to be sentenced on two counts of assault by beating and another of shop theft. He was found guilty at his trial – which he failed to attend – on 22 September.
Prosecutor Pauline Lambert said the defendant, who is homeless in the Trowbridge area, repeatedly punched a male security guard at Sainsbury’s in the town.
The attack, on 26 March this year, came after he attempted to stop him from stealing two bottles of alcohol. The man suffered a push to the chest and punches to the head.
Following the shoplifting incident, Rowley made his way into the town centre. He approached a man near The Kings Arms before repeatedly punching him in the head.
The man, who claims to have never seen his attacker before, was about to throw punches back in self-defence and detain him on the ground.
The court adjourned the case so that probation officer Clare Hyde could carry out a pre-sentence report interview with the defendant in the building’s custody cells.
Returning a short time later, Ms Hyde told burst into tears – telling the magistrates that the interview “took a turn” when he “threatened to get a gun and blow my face off”.
Rowley was brought back into the dock and jailed for 16 weeks. He must also pay a £128 surcharge.
