Hassan Ellahi, 19, was told by a judge that he wanted his two accomplices in the robbery to think he was a strong, tough man.

Recorder Sandra Knapton, sentencing Ellahi to seven years in custody for robbery and two years, consecutively, for possessing an imitation firearm at the time of committing an offence, told him: “You allowed your pride, your ego, and your desire to impress other people to overcome your thinking about what you were doing.”

Ellahi, of Haslingden Drive, Toller Lane, Bradford, had pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted by a trial jury.

He told the jury he was a national ju-jitsu champion, and had been to Shipley College on the day of the offences and then went to the Bradford City Fitness Club and met two men with whom he had trained.

Full story in today's Telegraph & Argus