A THIEF with anger management issues smashed a Dudley shop window before spitting at a police officer.

Martin Perry stole eight bottles of spirits from a Dudley town centre shop before throwing one through the window of Everything Criss Supermarket in the High Street because he claimed the owner owed him money.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard the 53-year-old lost his temper because he was frustrated in his bid to reclaim the money.

Jon Roe, for Perry, added: "He accepts he should not have acted in the way he did."

He went on: "After his release from prison he found himself struggling to pay bills and keep a roof over his head. He was at a very low ebb in his life and he knows he behaved foolishly."

Mr Roe said Perry, who was jailed for ten months, had since attended an anger management course and he is hoping it will keep him out of trouble with police in the future.

Judge Michael Dudley told Perry: "What you did must have been particularly unpleasant for the trainee shop assistant and breaking the window added to her concern."

Mark Rees, prosecuting, said that after his arrest Perry was taken to Dudley police station where he caused £200 damage to a mattress in his cell before spitting in the face of one of the officers.

The judge concluded: "The further damage you did was stupid and it was also a particularly unpleasant common assault on the police officer."

Perry of Sweetman Street, Wolverhampton, admitted two charges of criminal damage, common assault and theft and after being sent to prison he told the judge, "Thank you very much".