A 22-year-old man who robbed a Heckmondwike shopkeeper at knifepoint has been jailed for three years and ten months.

Simon Hodgson was dealing with another customer at the Power Games Direct shop in Cemetery Road when Saqib Bhatti walked behind the counter and approached him.

Prosecutor Austin Newman told a judge at Bradford Crown Court yesterday that as Mr Hodgson moved towards Bhatti he saw he was holding a ten-inch knife in his right hand.

"Mr Hodgson says the defendant pointed the knife towards him and told him to stand back. Understandably he was very frightened,'' said Mr Newman.

"He immediately obeyed and the defendant then seized the opportunity to snatch up Mr Hodgson's Nokia mobile phone.''

Bhatti, of Trueman Avenue, Heckmondwike, left the shop, but when Mr Hodgson was discussing the incident with a regular customer the man recognised the description given by the shopkeeper. Mr Hodgson went with the customer to an area where Bhatti was doing some gardening work and immediately recognised him.

When he was questioned by police, Bhatti maintained that he was not involved and it was a case of mistaken identity. But last month he pleaded guilty to the robbery charge.

His barrister urged Judge Roger Scott to consider adjourning Bhatti's case so he could be assessed for a drug testing and treatment order, but the judge said that sort of sentence was not appropriate for such a serious offence.

Judge Scott said Bhatti would get some credit for admitting he had a knife and pointed out that if the court had had to hear from witnesses, the sentence would have been substantially longer.

Bhatti also pleaded guilty to a theft which involved him taking a charity box containing a few pounds from a Batley office.