A drug addict with a £300 a day cocaine habit has been jailed for eight years for a string of terrifying knifepoint robberies.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday how 19-year-old Richard Fearn targetted vulnerable premises such as sub-post offices, service stations and estate agents during a four-month crime spree, which netted him almost £17,000.

Unemployed Fearn, of St Mary's Mount, Wyke, used the money to pay off drug debts and fund his drug habit.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas described how Fearn wore a home-made balaclava during the attacks and brandished various knives at terrified staff and members of the public.

During a raid on O'Hearne and Wilson's estate agents in Folly Hall Road, Wibsey, Bradford, last August Fearn held a knife to the back of a female assistant and ordered her to take him to the safe.

He fled with £4,500 in cash, but as he was being chased by a member of staff and passers-by he threw away £2,000.

Mr Dallas said that money was all that had ever been recovered.

Fearn pleaded guilty to four offences of robbery and asked for 11 others to be taken into consideration. He also asked Recorder Sandra Keen to take account of two attempted robberies and two thefts.

Mr Dallas said Fearn's offending represented a campaign of robberies taking place between June and October last year.

"In many cases the victims were left traumatised and in need of counselling and in at least one case one of the people in the premises was unable to return to her work,'' Mr Dallas said.

l On June 26 Fearn burst into the busy Lightcliffe post office brandishing a long knife and escaped with £300.

l On August 28 he armed himself with a large butcher's knife and stole £1,100 from Halifax Property Services in Fair Road, Wibsey.

l On August 29 he committed a robbery at O'Hearne and Wilson in Wibsey.

l On October 3 he entered the Crowtrees petrol station on Hudders-field Road, Brighouse, and fled with cash and cigarettes.

When he was finally arrested in October he confessed to being "cracked out of his head'' at the time of the offences.

Fearn, who will serve his sentence in a young offenders' institution, fully co-operated with the police investigation but stated he would never have used the knives on anyone.

His barrister, Jonathon Gibson, told the court that Fearn had expessed genuine remorse for the offences and concern for the victims.

Recorder Keen told Fearn that although no-one had been injured during the attacks the knives used were horrifying, and staff and members of the public must have been terrified.

"The public must be protected from people who offend like this,'' she said. "The public is entitled to expect that people who commit these types of offences face a very long period in custody.''

Detective Con Patrick O'Neill, of Dudley Hill CID, said: "We believe that the sentence reflects the seriousness of the crime."

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