FOOTAGE has been released of a 32-year-old man who assaulted a teenager selling the Big Issue.

This incident occured after she challenged him for shoplifting and he has been jailed for 44 weeks.

The image and video was released by Avon and Somerset Police. 

Ashley Stephen Payne, of Fishponds, was sentenced at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday, November 15 after admitting 23 offences, including assault on the 19-year-old woman, a separate assault on a 41-year-old shop worker, and 16 counts of theft.

All the offences were committed between 30 August and 14 November this year in the Fishponds and Staple Hill areas.

Sgt Andrew Bradshaw, of the Fishponds Neighbourhood Policing team, said; “We’re pleased with the custodial sentence given to Payne by the court for the series of offences he committed in our local community over a two-month spell.

“The attack on the 19-year-old woman was a particularly cowardly and unnecessary act of aggression – all because she challenged him for stealing from a local store.

“It’s taken persistence and hard work by the neighbourhood team and our colleagues in the Detainee Investigation Team to investigate this series of offences and gather the evidence needed to secure these convictions.”