A heroin-addict who brandished a four-inch-long knife at a female petrol station cashier has been jailed for four years.

Bradford Crown Court heard how 25-year-old Simon Tillotson walked into the JSR service station in Park Lane, Keighley, last June wearing a balaclava. He told terrified Rita Holden to open the till.

Prosecutor John Priest described how Tillotson held the knife across the counter to-wards the cashier, then leaned over to grab about £190 in cash.

Tillotson, of Back Cavendish Street, Keighley, was jailed after admitting the robbery and unrelated offences of allowing himself to be carried in a car taken without consent and making off from a petrol station without paying. He also asked for three house burglaries and an attempted theft to be taken into consideration.

Judge Roger Scott said it was little consolation to the cashier that Tillotson had committed the offence to get money for drugs. He said the Court of Appeal Criminal Division had indicated many times that such cases had to be met with fairly long custodial sentences.

Robin Mairs, for Tillotson, said his client had expressed remorse. He had been taking steps while in custody to beat his drug problem.

A second man - Darren Bland, 25, also of Back Cavendish Street - was jailed for 12 months and was banned from driving for a year. He was jointly charged with Tillotson in relation to the matter of making off without payment.

Bland admitted that offence and other matters of possessing a flick knife, stealing a Citroen car and perverting the course of justice.

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