A Ryde man who assaulted several shop workers during a series of thefts across the Isle of Wight has been sentenced to a 2-year community order.
Aaron Wood, 34, previously pleaded guilty to 8 charges, including 1 charge of burglary, 3 charges of theft, 3 charges of assault by beating and 1 charge of attempted theft.
The court heard how Wood, whose last known address was High Street, Ryde, began his string of thefts by committing a non-domestic burglary at Summer Arcade in Shanklin, stealing £106 worth of goods as well as damaging and destroying £406 of windows and doors in September 2025.
In December 2025, Wood stole wine, smoked salmon and sandwich bags worth £19.50 from Sainsbury’s Local in Cowes. Also in December, he stole wine, sandwich bags and a salad bowl to the amount of £21.60 from Co-op Ryde.
On 23rd December 2025, Woods attended Pan Stores, where he is now banned from. He had obtained a bottle of wine, which he used to strike the shopkeeper in the groin. Less than an hour and a half later, Woods returned to the store and assaulted the store worker once again, this time punching him as the shopkeeper tried to push him out of the establishment.
Other offences included the attempted theft of cigarettes from a Co-op, where Woods told the shop assistant, “Give them to me or I will jump over the counter and get them myself”.
When Woods’ threatening behaviour failed, he punched the perspex screen out of the tobacco kiosk and proceeded to try and pull the door open – only to be stopped once again by the kiosk attendant. The back-and-forth brawl with the plastic door resulted in Woods receiving an injury to his hand, which he used to smear his blood across the kiosk door. Wounded and with no cigarettes, Woods left the shop empty-handed.
The court heard of his 7th charge in which he was caught shoplifting from Iceland, but again, a brave shop assistant attempted to stop the theft with a trolley full of baskets. Woods was heard by the court to have assaulted the employee by pushing him along with the trolley of baskets out of the way to gain access to the exit of the store.
The prosecutor on the case told His Honour Judge Melville KC that these were very intimidating offences against shop workers, with one of the victims telling Police at the time of the offence:
“This incident has made me feel very anxious over the threats he has made to me. I feel anxious about my injuries as I will have to go to the hospital and I can not afford not to go to work.”
The Court went on to hear from Woods’s solicitor, who said that all of these incidents of a lawbreaking nature have occurred when her client has been intoxicated. He said that for the last 5 months, when Woods has been in custody, he has been clean from substances and alcohol and has been actively engaging in support that has been made available to him.
His solicitor said that his substance and alcohol misuse was merely a method to ‘minimise [the] voices that Woods can hear in his head’.
After much deliberation, His Honour Judge Melville KC sentenced Aaron Woods to a 2-year community order and ordered him to complete 35 rehabilitation days and a 9-month-long alcohol treatment requirement.
