A KIDDERMINSTER alcoholic who told his dog to bite a man so he could steal a can of lager in a street has been sent to jail.
Matthew Collinson had relapsed and been on "a bender" when he went out walking with his Staffordshire dog and saw Kevin Watkins in Kidderminster on the evening of April 5 this year, Worcester Crown Court was told.
Mr Watkins had bought cans of Carlsberg and was doing some scratch cards he had also bought while he waited for a taxi home, Michael Conry, prosecuting, told the court. Collinson asked him for a can of lager but Mr Watkins refused and said he had bought them to share with someone.
Collinson then grabbed him, looked at the dog and said "bite him," Mr Conry said.
Mr Watkins gave him the can because he thought the dog looked "nasty" although it had ignored the command and carried on chewing a plastic bottle.
Collinson, 28, of Blackwell Street, Kidderminster, was spotted by an off-duty police officer and arrested. He told police the dog was "soft" and he often told it to bite others.
He pleaded guilty to robbery and was also in breach of a suspended sentence.
Abigail Nixon, defending, said Collinson had been on "a bender" before the offence. He had a number of previous convictions all caused by drink but he had now accepted he was an alcoholic and had been seeking treatment.
Judge Robert Juckes, QC, activated eight weeks of the suspended sentence and gave Collinson 12months for robbery, making a total of 14 months.