'˜Pseudo gangster' holds up his local Spar shop

Luke Mayes, 20, wore a black balaclava and armed himself with an imitation gun when he threatened the assistant at the shop in the High Street.

Prosecutor Isabel Delamere told Luton crown court that staff in the shop were about to lock up at around nine o’clock on 21 October last year when Mayes, who was on bail for an assault, came in with his hood up, wearing the balaclava.

Three times he told the woman assistant: “I have come for the money.”

She handed over the drawer from the till and he responded saying: “I want more or I will let you have it.”

A colleague of the assistant had managed to leave the store and dial 999 for the police, causing Mayes to leave. He was identified from CCTV.

Earlier, on 7 September last year, he was drunk when he confronted a neighbour, Dean Kenny.

Mayes ‘drove’ the top of a broken Budweiser bottle in the side of Mr Kenny’s head. He hit him with another bottle, threw a third at him and attempted flying kicks, said Ms Delamere.

Mr Kenny suffered cuts to his head, right ear and a swollen nose.

Mayes of Bridle Drive, Clapham appeared for sentence via a video link from Glen Parva prison. He had pleaded guilty to robbing the Spar store on the day a trial was due to start. A jury had convicted him of wounding Mr Kenny. He had previous convictions for burglary, common assault and criminal damage.

Ravi Sidhu, defending, said Mayes was immature and prone to peer group pressure. He was dependent on drink and drugs at the time, he said.

Mr Sidhu went on: “He lacks a moral compass and stability in his life.

“A short, sharp shock is what this young man needs. He won’t thank me for saying it but he needs to understand he should not be a pseudo-gangster and move away from this ridiculous concept of manhood.”

Judge Richard Foster sentenced him to 3 years 6 months for the robbery and a further 12 months for wounding Mr Kenny. He said it was tragic to see such a young man in court to be sentenced for such serious charges.

He told him the robbery must have been “petrifying and terrifying” for the victim.

The judge also made a restraining order banning Mayes from contacting Dean Kenny or his partner Katy Lockheart for the next 10 years.