A ROBBER apologised to a service station assistant before he demanded cash from the till.
Craig Roberts was part of a gang of three which raided the garage in Atherton Road, Wigan, and who were jailed for a total of eight and a half years at Liverpool Crown Court.
Roberts, who was armed with a claw hammer, knew the assistant as they used to work together. He told her: "Sorry I have to do this, can I have all the money out of the till?"
He was accompanied during the raid by Sean Harris and Anthony Rigby, said Stephen Kemp, prosecuting.
The assistant handed over about £100 cash to Roberts, along with with cigarettes and adult DVD magazines, and the gang fled. Two hours later police went to a house in Everest Road, Atherton, where they found all three defendants.
Roberts, aged 28, of Everest Road, who pleaded guilty to robbery, was jailed for three and half years. Rigby, aged 40, also of Everest Road, and Harris, aged 38, of Holly Grove, West Leigh, who were convicted after a trial, were both jailed for two and a half years.
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