AN amphetamine addict who claimed he was was hearing voices robbed a local store at knifepoint so he could buy drugs.

Patrick Dunn used a kitchen knife to threaten two shop assistants and demanded cash from the till.

Dunn escaped with £80 in cash but paid a far higher price yesterday when he was jailed by a judge for four years for robbery.

Dunn, aged 31, of Chapelfield Street, Halliwell, Bolton, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence for robbery.

Prosecutor Geoff Whelan said that two assistants, Andrea Audrunsyn and Kulsum Adam, were stacking shelves and manning the till at Hanbury's supermarket in Eskrick Street, Halliwell, when they saw Dunn enter the store.

He waited until other shoppers had left before producing a kitchen knife and demanded cash from the till.

The whole incident was captured on CCTV inside the store and police were able to identify him from the video footage.

Police went to his home and arrested him and a search revealed a cream and blue fleece, identical to the one the robber wore.

He made a no comment statement but later, when showed the fleece and the video, admitted his part in the robbery.

The court was told that Dunn was addicted to amphetamines and had been hearing voices. He had stolen the money to buy drugs.