Pyjama thief threatened staff with crutch and exposed himself to police officer

The thief also urinated in the police van on the way to custody

A pyjama thief threatened shop staff with a crutch and later exposed himself to a police officer. Nicholas Masson, 32, was caught stealing pyjamas at Sainsbury’s supermarket, in Chequers Shopping Centre in Huntingdon, at about 10.40am on December 10, 2024.

He absconded but was followed outside by staff. The 32-year-old threatened them with a crutch before throwing the pyjamas at them.

Officers arrived and arrested Masson who urinated in the police van on the way to custody. After being released on bail, a drunken Masson exposed himself to a police officer in Regent Street, Cambridge, on December 19, 2024 and was arrested again.

Further investigations found Masson had been shouting, swearing, and following a woman at the Co-op, in Hills Road, earlier that day.

Masson, of no fixed address, was jailed for 13 months on Friday, June 5, at Peterborough Crown Court. He had pleaded guilty to two counts of using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress, exposure, theft, criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon, and common assault of an emergency worker.

Sergeant James Woore, who investigated, said: “Masson was incredibly aggressive and abusive to staff, officers and people who were just going about their everyday business in Huntingdon that day.

“And rather than use his arrest as a ‘wake-up’ call, he exposed himself to one of my colleagues while intoxicated in Cambridge.”