A 35-year-old man who carried a carving knife and shouted "I will hurt you" at staff during a robbery at a Tesco petrol station in Wales has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Michael Evans of Cledan, Newtown stole bundles of £20 notes from the Tesco site in Pool Road in February this year, but was caught because two GPS tracking devices were hidden in the money.
According to a report in the Powys County Times, Evans was wearing a hood and brandishing a carving knife when he ordered staff to open the till. When they refused he leapt over the counter and made off with cash and £80-worth of cigarettes. But police were able to track Evans back to his home thanks to the devices hidden in the notes.
The Daily Post reported that Evans already had 59 convictions for 113 offences including 34 for theft. His defence barrister said he had a long addiction to Class A drugs and had offended to fund that addiction.
Evans initially denied involvement in the crime, but after a jury was sworn in at Mold Crown Court he admitted two counts of robbery.
The court heard from one of the staff members who said she was now anxious when she saw anything about knife crime on TV.
Sentencing him to five years and four months in prison, Judge Niclas Parry told Evans: “What you did was plainly amateurish, but frightening. These women were terrified and cowering and you were caught thanks to the use of modern technology and good police work.”
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