42-year-old Raymond John targeted Skin and Glamour Beauty Salon in Llangyfelach Street on December 4.
As a shop worker was closing up at the end of the day, John burst into the salon and lay on the treatment bed, demanding water before making threats and searching for money, Swansea Crown Court heard.
The worker, a lone female, was forced to go to a nearby shop for safety.
John’s “erratic behaviour” came only a matter of days after he had been released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for shoplifting and exposing his penis in public.
John, of Griffith John Street, Dyfatty, was later identified by a police officer who recognised him from a previous investigation.
He has 57 previous convictions for 89 offences, including burglary, 20 thefts, and kindred matters. His last conviction was in October last year when he was sentenced to four months in prison for exposure and shoplifting a bottle of tequila from Sainsbury’s.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said the defendant had only been out of prison for a short time when he entered the business premises and began smashing it up and making threats.
He told John he was very fortunate that the prosecution had not proceeded with the more serious charge of attempted robbery.
The judge told John that he hoped he would make the necessary changes in his life; otherwise, “you will wake up one day and find you have spent most of your life in one institution or another.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea, John was sentenced to eight months in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Detective Constable Charlotte Rees said:
“Raymond John’s aggressive behaviour will have made the shop worker feel that their safety was in danger, and that is completely unacceptable.
“Shop workers should be able to go about their daily business free from threats and intimidation.
“It is only right that Raymond John goes to prison.”
[Lead image: South Wales Police]
