A masked man who attempted to rob a Scone supermarket at knifepoint left empty-handed after staff barricaded themselves in the store.
Brandishing a seven-and-a-half-inch kitchen knife, Perth man Paul McIntyre held up the Co-op on Perth Road on December 27 last year.
The 27-year-old, who has previous convictions for assault and assault to severe injury, waited until evening before entering the shop, hooded and masked.
He strode up to the counter only his eyes visible and ordered a shocked employee to empty the till.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that the assistant initially took the knife to be a toy, but recoiled in horror once she realised the blade was real.
The incident was captured on the store’s CCTV system, with McIntyre seen to lunge across the counter at his victim, repeatedly slashing the knife at her in what was described as a “stabbing motion”.
Depute fiscal Charmaine Cole told the court he had repeatedly demanded that the woman open the till and give him all the money within.
“The complainer screamed back that she could not open it and the panic in her voice alerted a colleague elsewhere in the store,” Ms Cole said.
“She managed to activate a panic button, while her colleague called the police, all the while shouting at her to get away from the till.”
Ms Cole said the complainer and her colleagues had managed to flee from the accused and had hidden with a cupboard blocking the door as they awaited assistance.
McIntyre had fled the scene empty-handed by the time police arrived but, despite the precautions he had taken to disguise himself, they were soon on his trail.
“When they arrived at his house, McIntyre’s partner challenged him about his actions and he burst into tears,” the depute fiscal continued. “He told her: ‘I robbed the Co-op. I didn’t get any money.’
“She ordered him to get out of the house and he was thereafter apprehended by the police.”
The officers discovered the clothing he had worn during the robbery and the kitchen knife within the house.
Having viewed the CCTV footage of the incident yesterday, Sheriff Alistair Brown expressed surprise that the complainer had resumed serving customers following her ordeal.
Ms Cole told him: “She was in complete shock, filled with adrenaline, and simply didn’t know what to do.
“She served the next customer who came into the shop, but by the time a second approached the counter she was shaking and trembling.”
Despite her ordeal, the complainer was back at work just two days later, but she was said to have felt “anxious, nervous and scared” as she left her home to begin the shift.
“When she was later shown the knife by police officers she began to appreciate for the first time just how much danger she had been in,” Ms Cole added.
“She has been anxious about reliving this experience, about the possibility that she would have to give evidence and about facing the accused.”
McIntyre, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted that, with his face masked, he assaulted an employee at the Co-op store by presenting and brandishing a knife, placing her in a state of fear and alarm and repeatedly demanding that she open the cash register, and that he attempted to rob her of a sum of money.
Solicitor Clair McArthur, for McIntyre, said her client was “appalled by his behaviour” and “filled with remorse”, adding that he was “very aware that a lengthy custodial sentence” was likely to be imposed.
Sheriff Alistair Brown said the offence was one that he took “very seriously” and one that would usually attract a prison sentence that could run to several years.
He deferred the matter until April 4, but warned McIntyre that he could yet remit the matter to the High Court should he consider a sentence longer than five years appropriate.