A WOULD-BE robber has been jailed for more than six years after a brave Bradford shopkeeper fought off two masked men demanding money while armed with an imitation gun and a stick.

Serial criminal Michael Gill was acting as lookout when his accomplices burst into Premier Stores in Halesworth Crescent, Holme Wood, at 7.40am on January 31.

Gill, 42, of New Hey Road, East Bowling, Bradford, tried to pretend the robbery bid was nothing to do with him but a jury convicted him and today he was imprisoned for five years with 14 months of a suspended sentence activated on top of that.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Gill kept watch outside the convenience store while the other two males burst in with their faces covered. One was brandishing an imitation gun while the second was armed with a two-foot long stick.

They demanded money but with what Judge Ahmed Nadim termed ‘exceptional courage and bravery,’ the lone shopkeeper tried to get the gunman out of the shop. He was attacked with the stick but that ‘didn’t dampen his resistance.’ He wrested the stick from his assailant, causing him to fall to the ground.

The two men fled and the shopkeeper followed them outside, the judge said.

It was then that he spotted Gill who protested that the robbery attempt was nothing to do with him. He continued to deny any involvement but the jury didn’t believe him and he was found guilty of attempted robbery and having an imitation firearm.

Judge Nadim said Gill had a ‘dreadful’ criminal record that included 43 convictions for 101 offences. Of those, 59 were for theft and related matters. In 2012, he was jailed for 70 months for robbery.

He had abused alcohol and Class A drugs and it was obvious that there was a nexus between that and his offending. He had an understanding of his difficulties and was determined to address them.

The judge said the robbery attempt involved a significant amount of planning. Face coverings were worn by Gill’s accomplices, weapons were brought to the scene and a soft target selected with only one person working there. An imitation firearm was then used to threaten violence.

“The fact that you were the lookout doesn’t in any way mitigate your culpability,” Judge Nadim said.

The offences were aggravated by the breach of an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, imposed at Bradford Crown Court on July 14 last year.

The shopkeeper’s strength of character had prevented things from being even worse, the judge stated.

Lydia Pearce, Gill’s barrister, said the gun wasn’t real and he stayed outside while the would-be robbers went into the shop.

She conceded that he would receive a lengthy jail sentence after he denied the offences at trial, meaning that no credit for pleading guilty was available to him.

Miss Pearce pointed out that Gill had been remanded in custody for more than seven months. He was now weaning himself off drugs, giving negative tests.

Drugs were a triggering factor for his offending but he was older and more mature since committing a significant robbery in 2012.

He had fallen off the wagon at the beginning of this year and was hanging around with the wrong type of people. He planned to move away from Bradford on his release and start a new life free from drugs.

Gill was jailed for five years for the attempted robbery and imitation gun offence, with 14 months of the suspended sentence activated consecutively, making six years and two months in all.

He will serve half of that before being released on licence.