Man jailed after shop worker stabbed in Birmingham

A Birmingham man has been sent to prison after a member of staff was stabbed and hurt at a shop in Shard End.

We were called to the shop on Heathland Avenue shortly after 10am on Thursday 5 February.

The member of staff, a man, had been stabbed in the stomach and was taken to hospital.

Thankfully he was not seriously injured, although he is still continuing his recovery.

An immediate investigation began with officers reviewing CCTV and speaking to witnesses as they worked to establish what had happened.

Our team discovered this was a robbery, where a man had gone into the shop, taken cleaning products from the shelves, and then tried to leave without paying.

He was then confronted by the staff member but pulled a knife out, stabbed him, and escaped with the goods.

Detectives quickly identified Reece Allen as the suspect, and we issued a public appeal to help find him the following day.

Thanks to information from that appeal, Allen was found and arrested, before going onto assault a staff member while in police custody.

During the investigation, our team were also able to link him to a previous shop theft.

He was subsequently charged and pleaded guilty to robbery, wounding, possession of a knife, theft, and assaulting an emergency worker.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Friday (20 March), the 31-year-old, of Heathland Avenue, was sentenced to a total of seven years and six months in prison.

PC Nolan, from the Birmingham Neighbourhood Crime Team, said: “This was a completely unacceptable attack on a member of staff in a shop who was simply doing their job.

“Any assault on a shop worker is unacceptable, but for Allen to have used a knife makes this even more shocking.

“I am pleased that we were able to identify and arrest him quickly, and I thank the public for their help with this.

“Allen has also rightly been sentenced for assaulting one of our staff members whilst in custody – again something we never tolerate.

“We are pleased he will spend years behind bars and it is clear the severity of his crimes has been recognised.”

Dedicated business and retail crime officers are working with retailers across the West Midlands to protect their businesses and their staff from theft and robbery.

For our latest advice on protecting your business, click here: Business crime prevention | West Midlands Police.