A drunk robber who held up a Co-op petrol station in Cornwall while wearing a see-through plastic bag over his head has been jailed for two years.

Jamie Neil, 41, was arrested after a police officer recognised him from CCTV footage days after the robbery.

Truro Crown Court heard how Neil and Gareth Tilley, 20, were at home when they decided to rob the garage in September last year. They both grabbed ‘the nearest thing’ they could find to use as a disguise.

Tilley wrapped a scarf around his head but Neil used a see-through plastic bag, which meant his face was captured on CCTV.

Officers later studied footage of the raid and an off duty officer recognised Neil in the street days later.

He was jailed for two years at Truro Crown Court last week. Tilley had previously been jailed for two years for his part in the raid.

Speaking after the hearing Detective Constable Steve White said Neil’s disguise was the most ‘ridiculous’ he had ever come across.

He said: ‘Before arriving at the location Tilley disguised his face using a scarf and Neil, being less resourceful, put a plastic bag on his head.

‘I investigated the case with CCTV and forensic evidence used to identify the assailants.’

The court heard that both men were drunk and high on stolen medication when they donned makeshift disguises and stormed the Co-op petrol station store in St Austell, Cornwall.

Tilley pretended he had a firearm by pointing his phone at the lone female assistant and demanded cash but she realised it wasn’t a gun and pressed an alarm.

Neil then wrestled with the employee before headbutting her and fleeing with several bottles of spirits.

But his face was easily visible through the plastic bag and a CCTV image was distributed among the police.

Two days later off-duty detective constable Lauren Holley was driving her mother home when she recognised Neil and called for backup.

Neil, of Bethel, Cornwall, was convicted of robbery last Friday and jailed by Judge John Neligan, who praised the shop assistant’s courage.

Tilley, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty last November.

Topics