Shoplifter who smashed bottle over hero Co-op employee’s head is jailed

A shoplifter who left a hero Co-op worker, 28, ‘covered in blood’ after smashing a bottle over her head has been jailed. 

Repeat offender George Talbott was leaving the store with two bottles of alcohol when he was challenged by courageous shop assistant Charlene Sweet.

Miss Sweet, 28, tried to grab one of the bottles but Talbott used it to crack her over the side of her head.

She was left covered in blood and needing hospital treatment. Her bandaged head and blood-soaked top has become one of the defining images of Britain’s shoplifting epidemic.

The shocking incident took place at a Co-Op store in Springbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset, on June 29 last year.

Talbott has now been sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding and theft.

The violent drug addict was called an idiot by a judge who jailed him for 23 months.

He also praised Miss Sweet’s Christian spirit after she told the judge from the public gallery that she forgave her attacker.

Rob Griffiths, prosecuting, said that Talbott had ignored his victim’s pleas to leave behind the bottle of Kopparberg cider and a WKD alcopop after being caught.

Mr Griffiths said: ‘He was outside the shop and she made an attempt to grab back the stock.

‘There was a struggle and she felt an impact on the left side of her head.

‘Something didn’t feel right and there was a ringing in her ears.

‘She could see glass on the floor and felt blood streaming down her.

‘She started to shout and scream for help.’

The blow left a 2cm wound which was gushing with blood.

Miss Sweet had her head glued but she was asked to come back to work just two days later.

Talbott’s photo was circulated and he was arrested three weeks later.

In her victim impact statement, read out by the prosecutor in court, she said she had challenged shoplifters before as the shop owners expected them to.

But she never expected to face such an ‘ordeal’ and since the attack she had avoided confronting shoplifters ‘out of fear’.

She has since left Co-op and now works at Tesco where she feels ‘safer’.

Miss Sweet said: ‘He would have got away much quicker if he had listened to me and not chose violence and harm.

‘I suppose it is a relief he did not hit me harder because he could have ruined my life and taken me from my family.’

The court heard that Talbot, who had been a heroin addict since he was 17, had 10 previous convictions for 35 offences, predominantly shoplifting.

He also has convictions for theft and assault.

Mark Florida-James, mitigating, said the defendant had ‘genuine remorse’ and was ‘ashamed of how he had behaved’.

He said that he had cleaned up his act since being taken into custody in December.

Sentencing him, Recorder Don Tait said: ‘You are a prolific thief and have issues in relation to alcohol and controlled substances.

‘You know that when you are under the influence you thief to find money to pay for this, and poor ladies like Miss Sweet who are doing their job in a local Co-op ends up with quite a serious injury.

‘The court has a duty to protect hardworking people like her from idiots like you.’

Miss Sweet then informed the judge that she had forgiven Talbott.

In response, the judge said: ‘That is not something you hear very often these days and very Christian of you.’

A report commissioned by the Co-op earlier this year revealed there was a staggering 336,270 incidents of theft, abuse and attacks on staff at Co-Op stores last year, a 44 per cent increase on 2022.

The company, which runs 2,400 community stores, saw a 37 per cent surge in incidents of anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse, taking the figure to 41,875.