Judge calls Accrington offender 'drunk, anti-social, racist man'

Jan Clough was in the Tesco store in Accrington on June 7 last year and when he attempted to purchase some items, but found he was 11p short.

Preston Crown Court heard how he began asking customers and staff if he could borrow some money from them, and two of the staff members went to see if there was any spare cash anywhere.

However, Clough, 39, then pulled a £5 note from his pocket and became aggressive towards the staff, telling them he was 'paid double the amount they were'.

Jan Clough (Image: Lancs Police)

Prosecuting, Peter Barr said: “He then said, ‘it’s because of you that this country has gone down hill. It’s because of you there are no jobs. Get back to your own country’."

The sentence also included a racist term directed at the staff members.

“The staff told him they were born in the UK and they didn’t have to deal with his abuse," Mr Barr continued.

“Security was called and he was escorted from the store.

“He was interviewed on July 19 and declined to comment and was released under investigation.”

The court was told that four months later, in October, Clough was picked up in a taxi from Heron Foods in Accrington.

He told the taxi driver to take him to Old Mother Redcap’s, and the taxi driver noticed he was very drunk, stumbling all over the place, and at one point he even urinated on a parked car.

Mr Barr said: “He left the taxi at the pub to collect something, and then got back in he taxi and asked to be taken to Oswaldtwistle, and that’s when his demeanour changed.

“He grabbed the taxi driver by the hand and squeezed it tight, then wound down the windows and began shouting abuse at people on the street.

"He then reached over to flash the taxi driver’s lights and beep his horn, with the driver telling him to stop.

“They arrived at another pub and the defendant got angry and said to the taxi driver, ‘give me all your money or I will stab you’. He told him he had a knife and continued to say he would stab him.”

He also used racist terms towards the driver.

Clough then got out of the taxi after offering to fight the driver and at this point the driver saw his opportunity, drove off and called the police.

Clough, of St Paul’s Court, Oswaldtwistle, was arrested at 7.05pm the same day when he accepted being in the taxi but denied the attempted robbery.

In mitigation, Neil Howard said his client was ashamed and embarrassed of his behaviour and wanted to apologise to his victims.

He also said at the time of the attempted robbery he was undergoing tests at his doctors for a possible brain tumour, which had caused him some stress.

Sentencing Clough, who has 62 convictions for 96 offences, Recorder Timothy Hannam KC said: “You have a terrible record.

"You are a drunken, threatening, anti-social and racist man.”

Clough pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and two counts of racially aggravated harassment.

In committing both of the offences, he was in breach of two suspended sentences imposed on him in May and July 2021 for being in charge of a dangerous dog and battery.

Recorder Hannam sentenced him to two years and six months for the offences and activated his 18 month suspended sentence, running consecutively, jailing Clough for a total of four years.