A YOUTH involved in a robbery at a town centre pub has been jailed for a total of four years and eight months.

Three masked intruders broke into The Ellesmere pub in St Helens Road, Leigh in the early hours of October 1 last year while the landlord was sleeping and after brandishing an extendable baton they tied his wrists and ankles.

They demanded the keys to the safe but the licencee, Peter Kennedy, explained he did not have one and said that all the cash was in the till drawer which he had taken up with him to his private quarters.

The men took the £1,041 cash and the keys to his Vauxhall Astra and after they left he managed to free himself by burning the plastic ties around his wrists and ankles with his lighter.

He rang the police but an officer had already spotted the car and began following it. The gang abandoned the car shortly afterwards and ran off but one of them, Sean Dempster, was chased and caught, said Miss Sarah Phelan, prosecuting.

During his pursuit he was recognised and seen to throw a rucksack into a garden in Cowper Street and was spotted going over a fence into a garden in Hesketh Street.

"He was found lying face down in the soil by the fence and was sweating so much that steam was seen rising off him," the prosecutor said.

When the rucksack was examined it was found to contain a plastic tie similar to those used to bind Mr Kennedy and £855 cash. A further £186 cash was found nearby.

When interviewed 19-year-old Dempster, of Birch Road, Leigh, admitted taking part in the robbery and refused to name his accomplices.

Dempster pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to robbery and aggravated vehicle taking involving driving a silver Vauxhall Nova on June 4 stolen from Charles Street, Golborne.

The car was chased by police as it sped through Lowton reaching 80 mph and while on Newton Road it collided with an oncoming vehicle. Dempster ran off but was chased and caught.

Miss Deborah Gould, defending, said that Dempster had not appreciated his accomplices in the pub raid had intended to carry out a robbery until they arrived. He had thought it was just to be a theft and his role involved searching the premises and he did not tie up or threaten the victim.

When they abandoned the vehicles his accomplices handed him the bag of cash, she said.

Jailing Dempster, Judge Sean Duncan said: "The publican must have been extremely frightened. I accept you not been the leader of the gang but you played an important part in the robbery."