AN ARMED robber who threatened to shoot a Ramsbottom shopkeeper in the head was jailed for six and a half years. Craig Clayton, 28, strolled into a newsagents in Ramsbottom and asked for two packets of cigarettes before telling staff, "Give me all your money or I'll blow your head off." Clayton, of Lime Grove, Peel Brow, Ramsbottom, had a string of convictions stretching back more than 15 years, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Clayton also smashed up The Clarence Pub, Ramsbottom and assaulted two people with a snooker cue, while on bail.

Clayton admitted assaulting Karl Greenwood and causing actual bodily harm to Emily Steinbach during the incident at the pub on July 13 1996.

Jailing Clayton, Judge Charles James said:"The courts owe a duty to those people who are vulnerable in shop premises and protect persons such as them from being robbed.

"We owe a duty to protect these people from people like you who go into shops and behave in that way, especially people such as you who have in the past committed burglaries and thefts."

Prosecuting, Mr Jonathan Dickenson, told the court how Clayton had gone into Nuttall News on Bolton Road West, Ramsbottom at 5.30am on a Saturday morning last July.

After picking up a paper and some milk and asking for cigarettes, Clayton said that he had a gun in his pocket and demanded cash. On Clayton's behalf, Mr Arthur Stuttard, said he did not have a gun when he went into the shop. He said the incident in the pub was due to stress.

Clayton denied robbery but was found guilty by jury and was sentenced to six years in prison and a further six months for the two assaults.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.