Shocking footage shows knifeman lunge at supermarket worker during robbery

Ellen Manning
Updated ·3 min read

Watch: Man lunges at supermarket worker with knife

This is the moment a criminal was caught on camera lunging at a supermarket worker with a knife - and trying to smash through the doors.

CCTV footage caught the moment Josh James was seen slashing the blade at staff and breaking the front door of the shop in one of a flurry of offences carried out with an accomplice between October 2022 and March this year.

James and partner in crime Bobbie Reynolds have now been jailed for carrying out a combined 18 offences between 18 October 2022 to 19 March of this year.

Video grab as a couple who went on a five-month-long crime spree and attacked a heroic shop worker with a knife have been jailed. Criminals Josh James and his partner Bobbie Reynolds carried out a combined 18 offences between them from October 18 2022 to March 19 of this year. See SWNS story SWMRknife. The partners in crime were jailed for their offences at Bristol Crown Court on Friday June 30. Their first offence in October at a shop in Bristol was captured on CCTV and shows James, 33, armed with a knife and violently lunging at an unarmed shop worker.
Josh James and partner Bobbie Reynolds carried out a combined 18 offences between them from October 2022 to March of this year. (SWNS)
Video grab as a couple who went on a five-month-long crime spree and attacked a heroic shop worker with a knife have been jailed. Criminals Josh James and his partner Bobbie Reynolds carried out a combined 18 offences between them from October 18 2022 to March 19 of this year. See SWNS story SWMRknife. The partners in crime were jailed for their offences at Bristol Crown Court on Friday June 30. Their first offence in October at a shop in Bristol was captured on CCTV and shows James, 33, armed with a knife and violently lunging at an unarmed shop worker.
James had carried out a catalogue of offences across Bristol. (SWNS)

The CCTV captured their first offence in October at a shop in Bristol, where James and Reynolds were confronted by an employee as they were stealing.

James, 33, can be seen swinging at the brave man as he's forced out of the shop before smashing the door in a bid to get back inside.

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James' crime spree continued into the following months, including the robbery of the same man on three separate occasions where he threatened him with a knife, as well as a string of burglaries on a student block and office block, stealing high-value laptops and other goods - on one occasion accompanied by Reynolds.

On another burglary, the pair broke into a block of flats in Bristol and raided the parcel storage and stole a bike.

After being confronted by a brave shop worker, James then tried to smash his way through the door. (SWNS)
After being confronted by a brave shop worker, James then tried to smash his way through the door. (SWNS)

James, of no fixed abode, was jailed for eight years at Bristol Crown Court, after pleading guilty to 18 offences, including three counts of robbery, nine counts of burglary, one of aggravated burglary and one of being in possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Reynolds, 30, of Bristol, who was linked to three of the 18 offences, was handed a two-year sentence suspended for two years, pleaded guilty to affray, being in possession of a bladed article, battery and four counts of burglary.

Josh James. .A couple who went on a five-month-long crime spree and attacked a heroic shop worker with a knife have been jailed. Criminals Josh James and his partner Bobbie Reynolds carried out a combined 18 offences between them from October 18 2022 to March 19 of this year. See SWNS story SWMRknife. The partners in crime were jailed for their offences at Bristol Crown Court on Friday June 30. Their first offence in October at a shop in Bristol was captured on CCTV and shows James, 33, armed with a knife and violently lunging at an unarmed shop worker.
James was jailed for eight years at Bristol Crown Court. (SWNS)
Bobbie Reynolds. A couple who went on a five-month-long crime spree and attacked a heroic shop worker with a knife have been jailed. Criminals Josh James and his partner Bobbie Reynolds carried out a combined 18 offences between them from October 18 2022 to March 19 of this year. See SWNS story SWMRknife. The partners in crime were jailed for their offences at Bristol Crown Court on Friday June 30. Their first offence in October at a shop in Bristol was captured on CCTV and shows James, 33, armed with a knife and violently lunging at an unarmed shop worker.
Bobbie Reynolds was given a two-year suspended sentence. (SWNS)

Investigating officer PC Hannah Baynham, said: "Through witnesses and good quality CCTV, we were able to link James and Reynolds' series of crimes and hold them to account for the impact they have had on the victims.

"Burglary and robbery are extremely serious crimes and we recognise the profound impact offences can have on victims, leaving them feeling unsafe in their homes and workplaces.

"James is dangerous and it is clear from the extent of his offending, that he has no awareness of the impact his actions have had on the lives of others.

"I hope his sentence will be welcomed by his victims and I hope Reynolds makes the most of her rehabilitation activities."