Legal high thief who told shopkeeper his name unsurprisingly caught some time later

A knife-wielding robber made it easy for police to identify him when he proudly revealed his name to the shopkeeper he was targeting. And Carl Harrison even told the victim at record store Smokin Vinyl in Erdington, Birmingham, where he used to live before he made off with £1,000 worth of legal highs. Harrison, 30, of Erdington, admitted two charges of robbery, having a knife and possessing drugs.

He was jailed for three years and four months. Birmingham Crown Court heard that the defendant made his the store just after 3pm on February 10 this year. There had been one other customer in the shop and William Lee, the shop keeper, had initially told Harrison to get out because he was smoking a cigarette. However he then became aggressive, and after throwing the cigarette outside, he returned and told Mr Lee that he should give him what he had come for.
The shopkeeper, who felt intimidated, then handed over a couple of pouches of legal highs. The defendant then told him: “Do you know who I am. I’m Carl Harrison.” Ten minutes later he returned to the shop, but this time armed with a knife, and forced Mr Lee to give him a whole tray of legal highs. Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said that, in fact, it did take the police some time to track Harrison down because of his itinerant lifestyle. He was finally arrested on June 4 after he became involved in a incident in a bar.
Paul Mytton, defending, said Harrison, who had problems with drink and substance abuse, had got himself a job as a driver. “He was hoping for a better future but, of course, this has caught up with him.” He went on “There are some bizarre features, perhaps the highlight was to say who he was and, unless there be any doubt, where he used to live, that show that he can not have been thinking properly when the offences were committed.” Judge Simon Drew QC said: “It must have been a very frightening experience as far as the shop keeper was concerned.”