ALARMED shoppers and store staff saw a teenager chase a man into a Penrith supermarket moments before leaping over a security barrier and attacking him.

Prosecutors accepted 19-year-old Reece Troy’s guilty plea to a public order offence after it was confirmed that the victim refused to cooperate with the police investigation.

The defendant, of Wordsworth Street, Penrith entered his guilty plea by letter, admitting he used threatening and abusive words and behaviour in a way likely to cause alarm and distress while he was at the Sainsbury store in Penrith.

It happened on September 28 last year.

At Carlisle's Rickergate court, prosecutor George Shelley said that staff and customers who were in the store that day saw the victim run through the front door, followed a few seconds later by the defendant.

“He ran in, leaped over a security barrier and headed straight towards the first male and assaults him,” said the prosecutor.

“He punched him to the face and shouted threats then delivered a second punch. It’s a busy supermarket and multiple members of the public witnessed it.

“The person assaulted refused to make a statement of complaint – hence the prosecution being for a public order offence. It was witnessed by staff who know Mr Troy from previous dealings.

“This was a sustained incident with multiple persons present.” The defendant was last in court in 2021 for a battery offence, the court heard.

His record also includes one racially aggravated public order offence, committed in 2020. After hearing those details, magistrates imposed a £120 fine on Troy, along with £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge.