A teenager who threatened to “smash” a filling station worker’s head in with a rounders bat during a robbery has been locked up for two-and-a-half years.

Joshua Bottomley, 18, escaped with only a packet of cigarettes during the raid at the Chellow Heights Service Station in Haworth Road, Bradford.

He struck after being earlier thrown out by staff when he tried to steal a packet of chewing gum, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Bottomley, of Wensley Avenue, Shipley, had a conviction for affray after threatening to stab his teacher when he was expelled from school, prosecutor Duncan Ritchie said.

He wore a balaclava and swung the bat aggressively during the robbery on February 23.

Mr Ritchie said Bottomley first went there for beer at 8.30pm. Staff saw him steal a packet of chewing gum and he was told to put it back, escorted out and told not to return.

An hour later, he came back, demanded cigarettes and put a pound coin on the counter.

Bottomley told a male staff member: “Give me them or I’ll smash your head in. Bet you didn’t think I would come here again.”

Bottomley, who had been drinking heavily and taking cocaine, tried to get behind the counter and then to climb over it. The two male staff members, who were shocked and scared, handed over a packet of 20 cigarettes.

Bottomley’s fingerprints were found on the chewing gum he tried to steal earlier.

His solicitor advocate, Paul Milner, told the court: “It was a serious crime for very small reward.

“The defendant himself describes it as stupid and that is an understatement.”

Mr Milner said Bottomley was an intelligent young man keen to change his ways. He had pleaded guilty to the robbery at an early stage.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said Bottomley, who had 20 convictions for 30 offences, had been treated “with undeniable leniency”.

He was released from a custodial sentence only four months before the robbery. The judge said Bottomley returned to the petrol station “with vengeance in your heart”.

“You showed violence, you showed threats, you showed arrogance, completely unjustified under the circumstances,” he told Bottomley as he jailed him.