A man who went on a drunken rampage and pulled out a knife at a shop assistant missed his own mother's funeral after he was jailed for his antics.
Paul Middlehurst, from Newton-le-Willows, drowned his sorrows in alcohol after trying for three days to get a GP appointment for his depression, with no success. At 6.30am on January 17 2023, the 42-year-old attended the Texaco garage at the junction of Crow Lane West and Market Street and tried to buy alcohol, but was refused as he was already visibly drunk. At 8am, he returned to the shop and tipped over a newspaper stand, threw a bottle at a window and pulled out a flick knife at the shop assistant as he rushed to lock the door.
The incident, which was partially caught on CCTV, occurred while Middlehurst was on bail following a burglary committed on August 31 2022.
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At around 11.45pm that day, Middlehurst and another man were caught breaking into the Ave Maria charity shop in Newton-le-Willows. The shop owner - who thought the disturbance was caused by "a spider crawling across the CCTV" at first - called the police, who found Middlehurst inside the shop and the other man attempting to crawl out through the shutters.
Middlehurst initially pleaded not guilty to the burglary charge, but changed his plea shortly before the case was due to go to trial. He also pleaded guilty to criminal damage and possession of a bladed article.
At his sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, March 13, Ken Heckle, defending, said Middlehurst had been struggling following the death of his mum, and he tried for three days to arrange a GP appointment before taking diazepam and drinking alcohol.
He said: "The biggest penalty and punishment that he missed his mother's funeral due to his own fault. He arrived within the prison on January 28, and the funeral was on the 30th. He was supposed to carry the coffin, he was supposed to give a reading. This is something Paul Middlehurst has looked at over the past month and a half. He's let himself down, he's let his family down. He can't get that back. That's gone. He can visit in due course, but he wasn't there and that's not the prison's fault - it's his own fault, because he put himself in that position."
He added that, during his time in prison, Middlehurst had saved the life of a cellmate by intervening when he tried to take his own life, and alerting the prison staff.
He said: "That's the other side to Paul Middlehurst. It's not all bad."
Middlehurst, who has 47 previous convictions for 62 offences, was sentenced to seven months in prison for the burglary, and five months for possession of a bladed article, and one month for criminal damage to the Texaco shop. The five and one month sentences will run concurrently, resulting in a total of 12 months, which he must serve half of before being released on licence. He was also given a restraining order banning him from the shop for five years.
His Honour Judge Driver KC said: "The aggravating factor here is your broad criminal record. You have over 60 previous offences. In mitigation, you have suffered a serious bereavement, you're a person with mental health difficulties and you have made good progress in prison where you have tackled your addiction and assisted another prisoner, probably saving his life."
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