A Whitehaven man has been jailed for punching a delivery driver and stealing his Santa hat.
Kevin Norman Sinton, 26, was one of three intoxicated people seen by the driver as he travelled towards an address at the town’s Fell View on December 5 to drop off a parcel.
Sinton initially snatched a Santa hat worn by the driver and put it on his own head.
The hat was returned to the driver, who then remonstrated as another drunk member of the group sat in his vehicle, squashing a parcel in the process.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Sinton then reached into the vehicle.
“He (Sinton) pulled his shirt over the bottom half of his face and swung a punch which contacted with the side of (the driver’s) face, knocking off his glasses,” prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the court. “He swung another punch which missed.
“Mr Sinton reached into the passenger footwell and picked up a parcel destined for delivery. Once again he removed the Santa hat, taking it with him.”
The driver — a man with 35 years’ experience in the job — contacted his employers, Yodel, and police attended the scene in search of Sinton.
The stolen parcel was recovered from a front garden and delivered.
“When Mr Sinton was arrested by police, he was wearing the Santa hat,” said Mr Rogerson.
Sinton, of Queen Street, Whitehaven, admitted assault by beating and theft. He had since been recalled to prison to serve the balance of a 15-month prison sentence imposed for brandishing a knife as he issued death threats to a woman during an incident last January.
Marion Weir, mitigating, said Sinton was still a young and immature man who had committed his most recent offences while under the influence of alcohol.
“The offence itself is, in my respectful submission, opportunistic and short-lived — not seeking to minimise the impact on (the victim),” said Ms Weir, who added of Sinton: “He knows he has to take some steps himself, at the age of 26, to get back on the straight and narrow.”
Imposing an immediate three-month jail term, Judge Nicholas Barker noted that the victim had been unnecessarily assaulted in an unpleasant way. He had been performing a vital role of delivery driver at a busy time.
“It is a central part of everyday life today,” Judge Barker told Sinton. “You interfered with it in the most egregious way. You removed his Santa hat as he was trying to present a jolly image as a delivery driver, and removed a parcel.”
