An armed robber who took part in a terrifying raid on a lone Angus shop worker has been jailed for six years and nine months.
Darren Ross brandished a hammer at his victim while his accomplice held up an axe for him to see.
Ross, 39, and the other criminal fled from Dennis’s General Merchant Store, on Montrose Street, Brechin, with nearly £2,000 of stock and a quantity of cash after threatening the co-owner Callum McDonald.
A judge told Ross on Friday: “This was a terrifying, premeditated assault and robbery on a shopkeeper of mature years in the early hours when almost no one was around.”
Lord Beckett said: “He was also made subject to cruel and intimidating threats to ensure his compliance.”
The judge said people who worked in shops on their own at early and late times of the day provided a valuable public service, but can be vulnerable.
Lord Beckett told Ross at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have an extraordinary record of previous convictions, particularly for crimes of dishonesty.”
Ross admitted taking part in the assault and robbery on September 29 2019, in which the raiders brandished weapons at Mr McDonald, demanded money and uttered threats to harm him and his family before making off with cash and cigarettes.
Advocate depute Peter Ferguson QC said Mr McDonald, 61, arrived at the shop at 7am before opening.
Men were armed and masked
He was later in the rear of the premises and returned to the front to find two men running behind the counter with their faces partly masked.
Mr Ferguson said: “One male was holding up an axe to let Mr McDonald see it. It was approximately 14 inches in total length.”
Ross was armed with a rusty, old hammer.
One of the robbers asked where the money was and told the victim not to press any panic button because he knew where he stayed and that he had a wife.
Ross helped himself to cartons of cigarettes and ordered Mr McDonald to get to the floor before a customer came into the shop and they fled.
The prosecutor said that CCTV footage from the premises and DNA recovered from clothing made it plain that the male with the hammer was Ross.
Defence counsel Lorraine Glancy said Ross, from Dundee, had a long-term drug problem and was “in the throes of an addiction to street valium”.
Lord Beckett jailed Ross for four years and nine months for the robbery and imposed a consecutive two-year sentence for other offences.
He admitted stealing a car and property, including jewellery, a handbag and car keys from an address in St Andrew Street, Alyth, on September 27 or 28 2019.
Mr Ferguson said the items stolen were estimated to be worth more than £32,000 but only the Mercedes C Class vehicle was recovered and it was damaged.
Ross committed the thefts with Barry Jackson, 35, of Dundee, who was jailed for 43 months after admitting the offences.
Jackson, who is a prisoner in Perth jail with Ross, also admitted breaking into a house in Union Terrace, Dundee, on September 25 in 2019 and stealing car keys, a phone and holdall.
He also stole a car from the driveway.
