A POOLE man was told he became his own crime wave in the area where he lived after a “catalogue” of offending.

Joshua Karl Bowering was in court to face sentencing for 13 crimes, including burglary of a pharmacy, thefts from supermarkets and an assault on the member of the public.

The 24-year-old also faced a charge of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving having injured a member of the public when he knocked her over while on his bicycle as he attempted to flee the scene of one of his shoplifting incidents.

Bowering, of South Road, Poole, was jailed for two years by Judge Brian Forster QC at Bournemouth Crown Court on Wednesday, September 23, having admitted the offences, which all took place between January and August of this year.

Judge Forster QC told Bowering: “Clearly offending of this nature is not acceptable and the courts must take action to prevent people from acting in this way.

"In the early part of this year you have in effect become your own crime wave in the area where you live.”

Prosecuting Berenice Mulvanny outlined Bowering's crimes, which started with the theft of £250 of razors from Superdrug in Poole on January 9.

The following day the defendant took bottles of alcohol from M&S in the Dolphin Shopping Centre. He left the store without paying and went towards his bicycle, which he dropped in his escape.

Ms Mulvanny said staff followed him and the items dropped to the ground and smashed.

She said: “After the bottles had smashed the defendant tried to ride away but he collided with a 55-year-old woman, causing her to fall to the ground on the broken glass and alcohol.”

As a result the woman suffered a broken bone in her foot and bruising, with several hospital trips required since the incident.

Bowering then tried to flee on foot but another member of the public, Neal Chapman, attempted to detain him.

“He [the defendant] punched Mr Chapman three times to the face,” said Ms Mulvanny, with a witness stating these blows had “quite a lot of force”.

Mr Chapman was commended by Judge Forster QC for his public-spirited actions to detain the defendant. He was awarded £400 from central funds.

The defendant was subsequently arrested but a week later he returned to Superdrug and stole £200 of Aussie shampoo.

A month later Bowering used a concrete bollard to smash his way into Rowlands Pharmacy in Parkstone Road, Poole, at around 11pm on February 20. He took around £100 of drugs from behind the counter and left via a fire exit.

Bowering’s next crimes took place in May when he committed fraud by false representation with a stolen bank card, buying items from Tesco in Westbourne and Branksome on May 20.

Five further thefts of alcohol, steaks and groceries occurred at Co-op, Aldi and Asda in late June and early July.

His most recent crime saw him raid the pharmacy again in the early hours on August 19 before being caught by police when trying to leave the scene.

He told officers he only burgled the store “because the doctor wouldn’t prescribe me what he was meant to”.

Mitigating Kevin Hill said Bowering had an addiction to Class A drugs. The defendant has Asperger’s and suffers from anxiety, said Mr Hill, adding that “he absolutely wants to change” and “knows what he needs to do” to address his drug issues.