A burglar with Covid who was caught trying to steal a crate of beer from a Suffolk brewery coughed in the face of a member of staff who restrained him after he tried to escape over a wall, a court has heard.

The staff member, who’d only received one Covid vaccination at the time of the burglary in August last year, had been “sick with worry” after being told that Thomas Sansome-Jones had recently tested positive for the virus, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

He had immediately gone home from work because of concerns about his health and that of his colleagues, said Simon Connolly, prosecuting.

Sansome-Jones, 31, of no fixed address, admitted burglary of a warehouse at the Greene King Brewery in Bury St Edmunds, common assault, absconding while on bail, breach of a suspended prison sentence with an offence of shoplifting of a bottle of wine from Marks and Spencer taken into consideration.

He was jailed for a total of 65 weeks.

The court heard that Greene King staff saw Sansome-Jones carrying a crate of beer across a yard at the brewery in the early hours of the morning and a member of staff had pulled him back and restrained him as he tried to climb over a wall.

Sansome-Jones had then pulled off his face mask and coughed in the man’s face while telling him he had recently tested positive for Covid, said Mr Connolly.

Natasha Nair, for Sansome-Jones, said he had a history of alcohol and mental health issues.

She said he’d spent his childhood in care after being taken away from his mother because of violence in the household.

She said he’d subsequently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Miss Nair said Sansome-Jones had nearly died after taking an accidental drug overdose and was told by paramedics that he had been dead for a few minutes before being resuscitated.

She said Sansome-Jones had been drunk when he broke into the warehouse and been clean of drugs since being taken into custody in April.