A Denbigh man has been jailed after a court heard how he snatched a 12-year-old boy’s £100 Christmas money out of his hand.

A judge said that it was disturbing that the boy of 12 from Denbigh had approached defendant Daniel Andrew Jones and asked him to buy some cannabis for him.

Jones, aged 27, told him it would cost him £10.

But Mold Crown Court heard that when the boy pulled out his money, the defendant grabbed all of it and ran off – and threatened him not to tell anyone that he had done it.

Earlier that day, December 29, Jones, of Love Lane, Denbigh, had stolen cosmetics valued at £300 from Boots the Chemists in town.

When his path was blocked by the manager he pushed past him and fled.

He was chased and some of the property was dropped as he went.

Jones got away at that stage, and later went to a house in the town to sell some of the stolen items.

There the boy of 12 saw him, asked him to get some cannabis for him, and went with him to the town centre, which was where the theft of the Christmas money occurred, explained prosecuting barrister Gemma Gordon at Mold Crown Court.

That night, Jones went back to Boots and hurled a rock at the door.

He went inside as the alarm rang and stole further cosmetics.

Jones was arrested following a DNA hit on blood on the pavement close to the point of entry.

Jones admitted shoplifting, the theft of the cash, and burglary and was jailed for just over a year – a total of 54 weeks.

What made it worse was that he was on a suspended prison sentence at the time.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said that it was “worrying and depressing” that a 12 year old boy in Denbigh had asked the defendant to buy him cannabis.

But Jones had taken advantage of the very young boy in the street and stolen his Christmas money.

The same day he had targeted Boots to steal high value items – initially to steal from it but then he returned at night to commit the burglary.

He had a very bad record for dishonesty with 27 previous convictions for theft and three previous convictions for burglary.

Defending barrister Sarah Yates said that the defendant had a cannabis addiction and alcohol issues and accepted that he had committed a number of offences.

He appreciated that he had no one to blame but himself.

She said that the theft from the boy was not planned.

It was a spontaneous theft when the boy produced the money, she explained.