A teenage drug addict who robbed a newsagents shop at gunpoint has been jailed for 21 months.

Bradford Crown Court heard that 19-year-old Matthew Wright was seeking money to buy heroin when he donned a balaclava, went into the shop in Idle, and pointed an air pistol at the owner.

The shopkeeper's wife handed over £250 and Wright fled, said prosecutor Jonathan Gibson.

Two days later, he snatched £170 from a till at the local Co-op, while waiting to be served at the checkout.

Wright, now said to be living in Pullan Market, Norfolk, pleaded guilty to robbery, theft and possessing a firearm with intent to commit an offence.

Michelle Colborne, mitigating, said Wright was from a decent, stable background and he was "deeply ashamed'' of letting his parents down.

"If it were not for heroin he would never have been in trouble in his life,'' she added.

He had initially denied being "stupid enough'' to get involved with drugs, but his addiction became known after he went to stay with a friend and his parents found needles when they cleaned out his bedroom.

The family had then moved to Norfolk, partly to get him away from the drugs problem in Bradford.

Passing sentence, Judge Alistair McCallum said he accepted that Wright had not intended to shoot the couple in the shop, but they did not know that at the time.

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