A PROLIFIC shoplifter attacked a granddad and pushed him to the floor in Boots – a store which he was banned from.

In his 45 years of working in retail, the victim said he had never experience anything like Jack McCarthy’s behaviour.

McCarthy appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to assault by beating, ABH, theft, and criminal damage.

Prosecuting, Sue Payne said the offences took place at around 7pm on January 22 of this year at Boots on Gemini Retail Park.

Ms Payne said that a security guard was alerted to two men who were ‘known for shoplifting’ who were concealing items in their pockets near to the fragrance section.

The security guard approached the men, McCarthy, of no fixed abode, and an unknown male, but they were ‘getting closer to him’ and shouting at him.

As a result, the security guard told his colleagues to call the police through his headset.

The court heard how he was pushed by one of the men, and the unknown male then left the shop with a number of fragrance giftsets.

Miss Payne said that meanwhile, another ‘mature’ colleague came to assist the security guard.

But as he walked over, McCarthy, 31, pushed him with full force, causing him to fall straight onto his back.

His glasses fell off and broke in the attack, and his head was bleeding, Ms Payne said.

McCarthy, who has 15 previous convictions for 40 offences, then left the shop and threw items off shelves on his way out.

The court heard how in total, £306 worth of fragrance was taken and damaged, and that £120 of beauty products were taken and damaged.

Ms Payne read a victim impact to the court in which it was heard that during the man’s 45 years of working in retail, he has dealt with ‘all sorts of aggressive people’, but never anyone like McCarthy.

He said how he expects to do his job and then return home to his family, including his grandchildren, safe and well.

The court heard how life for the victim has been difficult since the incident, he was unable to work for a number of months and has also suffered brain fog and dizziness since.

His scans did come back clear, however he has a further check-up at Warrington Hospital next month.

Defending, Callum Ross said that he accepts that McCarthy’s record is ‘unattractive’, but said the majority of his offending has been for dishonesty offences.

Mr Ross said that his client has previously shoplifted to fund a drug habit, but that this time it was because his landlord had increased his and his partner’s rent and they were struggling to cover the cost of bills.

So as a result, McCarthy ‘turned back to his old ways of shoplifting’.

Concluding, recorder Tim Harrington said: “It was in premises that you were banned from and when the security guard confronted you, you did not go quietly.

“A mature man decided to intervene and without any warning at all, you pushed him so hard that he fell straight onto his back.”

McCarthy received an 18-month prison sentence.