A man who tried to rob a filling station while pretending he had a gun brandished a knife at a petrified shopworker later the same day and made off with £240, a judge heard.
Billy-Joe Easterbrook, 20, of Church Street, Flint , was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to attempted robbery at the Shell garage in Flint, possessing an imitation firearm which was a wooden stick, robbery, and threatening the assistant at Spar in Garden City , Deeside, with a kitchen knife.
Mold Crown Court heard Easterbrook was on licence from prison at the time of the offences,
Prosecutor David Mainstone said Easterbrook went into the garage at 6.15am on July 9 and demanded money, claiming to have a “.38”, but a man working there told him to leave, pretended to press a panic button and the defendant fled.
Mr Mainstone said Easterbrook returned to a Flint hostel but took a knife from the kitchen. At 8pm a woman assistant at the Spar was approached by Easterbrook who produced a knife and swept it past her neck. He demanded cash and she was “frozen in fear”.
The prosecutor said Easterbrook took the £240 cash and left the knife on the counter.
He told staff: ”Keep that as evidence.”
'Great distress'
He was recognised by police from CCTV footage and when interviewed told them he had a stick under his T-shirt on the first occasion.
He said he needed cash for cocaine and spent the money from the Spar on drugs.
Mr Mainstone said Easterbrook’s criminal record included attempted robbery, and a robbery at a Holywell garage with a knife.
Defence counsel Matthew Curtis said Easterbrook left a trail of evidence. He had put his desire to obtain drugs over everything else.
Judge David Hale told Easterbrook: ”I have no doubt there’s a significant risk of further offences to be committed by you.
“You had a wretched start in life. But you have got to make up your mind ‘do I buckle down and get on with something or am I going to come out just as feckless as before.”
Det Sgt Colin Oare of Flintshire CID said afterwards: “Easterbrook caused great distress to his victims.
"This sentence is a warning to anyone who thinks they can engage in such criminality that North Wales Police will bring them to justice and the courts will deal with them robustly.
"I hope the people of Flintshire will be reassured now that Easterbrook is off the streets.”
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see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/flintshire-spar-knifepoint-robber-jailed-11707100
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