'Superior' yob who burgled Waitrose in Gosport and hit officer with bottle brought down to earth with jailing

Steven Bassindale, 23, was part of a group that forced their way into Waitrose on Stoke Road, Gosport, on November 13, 2020, before stealing £290 worth of alcohol including vodka, gin and lager. The gang fled the store before going to a nearby stairwell. It led to Bassindale travelling up the stairs before police entered and cornered him.

SEE ALSO: Man living in van hits back at locals

CCTV footage of the incident, played at Portsmouth Crown Court, showed the defendant at the top of the stairs drinking from the vodka bottle before pouring it beneath him.

Bassindale tells the officers: ‘I tell you what, I hate you *****.’ He then throws the bottle down the stairs below as one of the officers is marching up - with the bottle striking the officer’s leg.

Bassindale claiming he did not know the officer was there, saying ‘sorry’ before being arrested. The policeman, in a victim impact statement, said: ‘My right knee was left in considerable pain and was swollen.’

Bassindale also admitted other offences during the hearing including criminal damage against his ex-girlfriend’s bike on November 10 last year when he kicked the front wheel causing it to ‘buckle’ and the female to ‘stumble’. As a neighbour came to assist the woman, Bassindale warned them off, saying he had a weapon in his pocket: ‘I’ve got a screwdriver ready.’

The ‘erratic’ defendant was in trouble again on June 15 when he was ‘shouting’ and lashing out with a piece of wood outside his former girlfriend’s home before he spat at her.

Despite his rages Bassindale, who has 26 convictions for 58 offences, was said by his ex-girlfriend to be ‘lovely’ when he had not been drinking.

Bassindale, of Cantelupe Road, East Grinstead, admitted burglary, assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and common assault.

Judge Williams Ashworth told Bassindale: ‘It was clear from the expression on your face that you felt superior and justified in your behaviour (in the stairwell towards police). As the officer walked up you looked at him and threw the bottle at him. I saw in your face and eyes this was a deliberate choice.’

Bassindale was locked up for 15 months.