A VIOLENT armed robber who held a gun to a taxi driver’s neck and threatened a shop assistant has been jailed.

Lee Merrick carried out two raids in just two hours on October 2, 2010, Bolton Crown Court heard.

He robbed the Co-op store on Ainsworth Lane in Tonge Moor before threatening a taxi driver in Breightmet.

Susan Carter, prosecuting, said Donna Atherdon was working in the Co-op when Merrick came into the store at 7.45pm. The 24- year-old, of no fixed address, walked in with his hood up and tried to leave with a box of cider without paying.

Mrs Atherdon grabbed his hood and he dropped the alcohol and held a gun towards her.

Then, at 9.50pm Merrick and his friend got in a taxi at the Hare and Hound pub in Bury Road, Breightmet.

Ms Carter said: “The driver heard the two men whispering.

He was in fear they weren’t going to pay and run off. He asked for money up front.

“They said they would pay. The driver felt an arm around his front and the gun in his neck. He braked sharply.

“The defendant asked him to pull over. He thought he was going to be killed. Merrick said ‘give me the money’, he handed over £35.”

A police officer stopped Merrick on Chorley Street at 10.15pm after recognising him from the description of the Co-op robber. The gun was not a prohibited weapon but could have delivered a lethal missile the court heard.

Sentencing Merrick to five years in prison, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said: “Perhaps the most chilling aspect is you demonstrated you don’t care for anybody.

“You had no insight of the fear you put in the taxi driver.“ You almost thought it was justified that you could rob him.”

Merrick, who had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and two counts of possessing a firearm, was jailed for two years for the Co-op robbery and three years for the taxi offence.