A thief who threatened shop staff with a crutch and later exposed himself to a police officer has been jailed, police said.

Nicholas Masson, 32, was caught stealing pyjamas at Sainsbury’s supermarket, in Chequers Shopping Centre, Huntingdon, at about 10.40am on 10 December 2024.

He made off but was followed outside by staff and he 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 19 December 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.

On Friday (5 June), at Peterborough Crown Court, Masson, of no fixed address, was jailed for 13 months having 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.”