A MAN was rushed to hospital after taking an overdose of sleeping tablets at Gloucester Crown Court when he was sentenced to four years in jail this afternoon.
Harley Webb, 24, appeared in court charged with several counts of burglary, a charge of racially aggravated assault and possession of an offensive weapon.
Webb, of no fixed abode, but previously of Croft Road, in Swindon, admitted the offences and was sentenced to four years in custody.
Not long after he was taken down to the cells, a security guard entered the court room to inform the judge of the incident.
He had taken an overdose of sleeping tablets which he had hidden in cling-film inside his body and an ambulance had been called, she told the court.
His condition is currently unknown.
Webb committed a series of burglaries in Marlborough, Wiltshire, between December 20 and January 10, the court heard.
Then, around 9.40pm on January 14, he assaulted a security guard at the Tesco store in St Oswalds Retail Park.
Prosecutor Janine Wood said: "The defendant was seen messing around with a wheelchair in the store.
"The security guard, from Ghana, went to speak to them and there was an altercation.
"Mr Webb and two other young men started to throw items such as potatoes and anti-freeze cans at the security guard and he was hit by the items."
They went outside and misbehaviour continued.
When the security guard tackled them, the men punched and kicked him to the face and shouted racial abuse at him, the court heard.
Webb then went to his BMW vehicle and produced a screwdriver.
"He approached the security guard who believed it was a knife and thought he was going to be stabbed," said Ms Wood.
"The defendant lunged towards him, pushing him back into the shop before the police arrived."
Two weeks later, on January 30, Webb's BMW vehicle was linked to three burglaries in Gloucester.
The court heard that Webb's sister died in January.
Brendan Moorhouse, defending, said he had been making good progress following his release from prison from his last offence but 'derailed' when his sister died and he reverted to drug abuse.
Webb sobbed as he was sentenced to four years in prison.
Jailing Webb, Judge Jamie Tabor QC, said: "The tears that you produce now are tears of self-pity.
"I would like you to think about the tears of your victims.
"The people who came home and realised that you had ransacked their homes and stolen from them.
"I would like you to think about that security guard that you humiliated and abused in a racial manner.
"Rather than crying about yourself, think about them.
"The security guard was doing his best to carry out his duty and came across a group of young men who acted in a feral, violent and spiteful way.
"Two weeks later you are at it again, with the same vehicle.
"This is utterly disgraceful and despicable behaviour."
Judge Tabor sentenced Webb to three years in custody for the Marlborough burglaries and three years in custody for the Gloucester burglaries to run concurrently.
He was also sentenced to one year in custody for racially aggravated assault and one year in custody for possession of an offensive weapon to run concurrently.
