A 31-year-old man has been jailed for snatching money out of tills.

Nicholas English of Highgate Cottages, Fairoak Lane, Leatherhead, pleaded guilty to three till snatches where he amassed £540 from stores in Cobham, Weybridge and Horsley.

On November 16 at Guildford Crown Court, he was sentenced to 48 weeks in jail. The 90 days he had already spent on remand counted towards his sentence.

English asked for eight further offences to be taken into consideration totalling £991 from stores in Worcester Park, North Cheam and New Malden.

The offences took place during the summer 2012 where English would enter the shops and pretend to pay for a cheap item before making a grab for the notes when the cashier opened the till.

He was caught in August after committing an offence in Budgens in Horsley.

A have-a-go-hero stopped him from driving off by taking his car keys. English assaulted the man but failed to get his keys back and fled to the local train station.

Members of the public brought him back to the store where he offered to give them their money back in exchange for his car keys.

The police arrived and arrested English who spat in an officer’s face.

Sutton Detective Constable Charlie Lourenco, of Sutton’s Burglary & Robbery Investigation Team, was joined by Met Police officers from Kingston and Surrey Police in the investigation that led to English’s conviction in court.