A MAN smashed up a till point at Sidmouth’s Tesco store, a court has heard.

Giulio Reay, 34, of Hale Lane, Honiton, pleaded guilty at Exeter Magistrates Court on Tuesday to criminal damage and public order offences.

They charges related to an incident at the High Street store on September 24.

Prosecutor Lyndsey Baker told the court that around 7.20pm, a store staff member reported that a man entered the premises after the cash point outside returned his card.

He punched and kicked the till, and “went right up into the face” of a staff member.

“He punches the till hard enough to see it break,” she said. “When the police arrived they could see that extensive damage had been done to the computer screen.”

CCTV footage captured a “very jumpy” Reay entering the store, which was busy at the time.

A security guard’s statement indicates that Reay was “intimidating and aggressive” and that he feared for his personal safety.

“He was extremely abusive to me and staff members and didn’t seem to care there were others in the store,” the statement said.

It was revealed that Reay had been drinking since 2pm.

Katrine Byrne, defending, said her client deeply regretted his actions.

“He expressed genuine remorse and and pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity,” she said. “There’s no real explanation other than he exercised poor judgement and overreacted to the situation. He doesn’t have a problem with alcohol but sometimes doesn’t realise where he needs to draw the line.”

The incident had already had “significant ramifications” for Reay, whose partner is pregnant, as he’d lost his job over it.

Magistrates gave him a community order with an unpiad work attachment of 120 hours, reduced to 80 for his cooperation and guilty plea. He was ordered to pay �100 compensation to Tesco.

The chiar of magistrates told him: “You need to think about your drinking and maybe stop, because you seem unable to stop yourself.”