A ROBBER stole alcohol from a corner shop to help him find the courage to kill himself after his relationship began to crumble, a court was told yesterday.

Jason Richards had prepared a noose at a bridge in Darlington - but was not brave enough to go through with his suicide bid.

Richards then stole two bottles of vodka and cigarettes after terrifying shop worker Nichola Turner, who had been the victim of a robbery just months earlier.

The 42-year-old screamed at Mrs Turner, claiming he had a cosh, and fled only when a customer and two children entered the store in the town's Brook Terrace.

Richards told the shop assistant he was going to get a life sentence for attacking his girlfriend, so he may as well get jailed for robbery as well.

Later, however, he told police that home wanted the vodka to give him Dutch courage so he could end his life, said his barrister, Colin Harvey.

Richards had attacked partner Jacqueline Bateman a fortnight before the robbery on Noaman's Stores, but had not been caught by police.

Teesside Crown Court heard that he had also beaten up Ms Bateman, 41, the previous month and was on bail at the time of the other offences.

In the first attack, Ms Bateman was pushed into an empty bath, had chunks of hair pulled out and had her head banged against the taps.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said she fled downstairs, but was pursued by Richards, who smashed a coffee table and guitar, and bit her nose.

Richards had also held a knife to Ms Bateman's chest before he fell asleep drunk and she was able to run from her home and call the police.

The second assault also happened at Ms Bateman's home in Darlington, when Richards tried to get her to withdraw her complaint to police.

He put her in a headlock and punched her in the eye before fleeing from the house, said Mr Dodds.

Richards, of Liverton Whin, Saltburn, east Cleveland, admitted actual bodily harm assaults on November 17 and December 1, and robbery on December 17.

The court heard he had been released from prison three months before the first assault after serving a sentence for stabbing a former partner and a man in Eston, Middlesbrough, in 2004.

Richards was ordered to be detained indefinitely for the protection of the public after the judge, Recorder Andrew Dallas, was told of the previous convictions.

He will be able to apply for parole after 20 months behind bars but will be freed only when he is no longer considered a danger to the public.

Mr Harvey blamed Richards' "emotional fragility" for his offending and said the wider public was not at risk.

He described the robbery as peculiar, adding: "It was to get enough Dutch courage to kill himself."

* Anthony Weeks, 38, of Marsden Walk, Darlington, was given a tenmonth suspended prison sentence for punching shopkeeper Alan Noaman in a racist assault last summer.

Weeks, a member of the British National Party, admitted racially aggravated assault when he appeared before magistrates last November.

Weeks was spared jail after Mr Noaman told police he deserved a second chance.