A DRUG addict allowed a police officer to put a hand into his bag knowing there were uncapped and used needles inside.

Shaun Hardman, who is of no fixed abode, was arrested after a throwing a shopping basket at a member of staff in Poole High Street’s branch of supermarket Iceland on April 11.

When an officer asked his name, he gave his brother’s details. As a result, the officer was unable to accurately check information held by Dorset Police on Hardman, which would have revealed his addiction.

The officer then began searching Hardman’s bag, discovering a cache of needles.

On Friday, April 13, Hardman, 33, appeared before magistrates in Poole to be sentenced after admitting assault by beating, common assault, theft, assaulting a PC, resisting a PC and commission of a further offence while subject to a conditional discharge.

Nicola Reece, prosecuting, said the defendant had been observed behaving suspiciously by Iceland’s deputy manager Kieron Patridge. Mr Patridge saw Hardman putting two packets of chicken into a bag via CCTV.

Mr Patridge asked colleague Teresa Seal to intervene. However, Hardman then threw his basket towards Ms Seal’s head. She was not injured.

The two members of staff walked behind Hardman in a bid to make him leave the shop, but he suddenly turned and struck Mr Patridge in the jaw and told them: “I will come back with a knife and ******* kill you.”

Hardman later became aggressive at the police station after his arrest. When a police officer put a hand on his arm, the defendant grabbed the officer by the wrist and “threw it downwards with force, causing the victim a fleeting moment of pain,” Ms Reece said.

James Moore, mitigating, said Hardman spent much of the winter living in a tent.

“He was riddled and addled,” Mr Moore said.

“His plight took a turn for the worse when he was evicted from his home. He has been living a hand to mouth existence.”

Recently, Hardman has stopped taking heroin intravenously, the court heard.

“Mr Hardman has been working really hard. I wish the court could have seen the position he was in [before],” Mr Moore said.

“He went into a shop and put items in his bag. Officers at the police station tried to suggest to Mr Hardman that it was a heinous crime that he had put some items in a bag.”

The defendant had no intention to steal but was made to feel “worthless” by staff, it was heard.

“He was shadowed around,” Mr Moore said.

“He threw the basket in petulance following discrimination.”

Magistrates sentenced Hardman to seven weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. No compensation was ordered.