A sneak thief has been jailed for attacking a shop worker who tried to stop him running off with her handbag.
Martin Murray asked to be sent to jail after having an argument with the probation officer who was supervising him and failing to turn up for a series of drug tests.
He is a prolific offender who was meant to be meeting his supervising officer several times a week but repeatedly called in sick, Exeter Crown Court was told.
He was made subject of a suspended sentence in February for a sneak raid on the Animal surf shop in Ilfracombe in which he attacked a member of staff who confronted him.
Murray decided he wanted to serve his sentence and get it over and done with after storming out of a meeting with his supervising probation officer in April.
Murray, aged 44, of High Street, Ilfracombe, admitted burglary and assault by battery at an earlier hearing before Barnstaple Magistrates in February.
He admitted being in breach of his supervision and drug rehabilitation orders and Judge Phillip Wassall jailed him for 19 weeks. He knocked 5 weeks off the original 24 week sentence to mark the 22 out of 44 probation appointments which Murray kept.
The Judge told him:"You may have attended three drug rehabilitation reviews at court but the reality is that you never really engaged with this order. There is plainly no alternative to prison."
Miss Sarah Hornblower, prosecuting, said Murray had been abusive to his probation officer and stormed out of a meeting after being asked about his failure to keep previous appointments.
She said:"He was a prolific offender who was required to attend a number of appointments. The probation service feel they cannot work with him and ask the court to activate the sentence."
She said Murray had also expressed the view that he did not want the order to continue with the prospect of the sentence hanging over his head and wanted to serve it.
Miss Eleanor Purkis, defending, said there were genuine medical reasons for most of the missed appointments but Murray had problems getting doctors' certificates to prove it.
She said:"As a result his relationship with his supervising officer has broken down. He feels the supervisor has been unduly harsh and not given him enough leeway or acknowledged the problems of travelling between Ilfracombe and Barnstaple for appointments.
"He has reached the point where he says he has given up the fight and feels even if he was given another chance the likelihood is he would be breached again.
"He feels there is no point in continuing to engage with the order and he might as well go to prison."
Murray arrived more than an hour late at Exeter Crown Court carrying two large carrier bags full of clothing and other possessions.
In the original case he admitted going into the Animal shop in January where he tried to snatch two handbags from a back office before struggling with a female member of staff who tried to stop him.
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