CCTV images have been released of the shocking moment shop workers at a New Forest Tesco store were held at knifepoint during a robbery.
Shaun Andrew Havard raided the Tesco Express store on Langdown Lawn in Hythe in a bid to get money for drugs, a court was told.
Entering the store in a hooded jumper, in an attempt to hide his identity, Havard blocked the automatic doors with a trolley of shopping baskets.
He then grabbed one shop worker and threatened her with a knife, ordering her to take him to the tills.
Upon reaching the counter, the shop attendant managed to break free by removing the jacket Havard was holding onto.
Pictures of the incident shown in court, released to the Echo by the Crown Prosecution Service, show the 35-year-old of jumping over the counter and ordering another worker to open the till.
The worker began loading money into a Tesco bag, before handing it to Havard and loading it with packs of cigarettes, as the armed robber demanded.
Havard, of no fixed address, then left the store, leaving staff to call the police as shoppers watched on.
Prosecuting, Martyn Booth told Southampton Crown Court how one of the cigarette packets had in fact been a “decoy” and included a tracker which was used to find Havard.
On that same day, July 10, police were led to Maritime Avenue, where they found the robber in a car.
Upon searching a nearby property, items stolen from the store were found and Havard was arrested.
Mr Booth added that six packets of cigarettes and £385 in cash were found to have been stolen and that it left the shop attendant “petrified”.
In a statement read out in court, one of the victims said: “I’m very apprehensive to go back to work.
“I’m still in shock now. I was so convinced that the man would use the knife.”
Another added: “Since then I’m still getting some panic attacks and I haven’t slept properly, I was completely terrified.”
Mitigating Christopher Gager said that Havard is “ashamed of his behaviour”, explaining that he has a “long-standing problem with drugs” and committed the robbery in order to fund his habit.
READ MORE: Man jailed for robbing Tesco store in Hythe with knife
But judge, Mr Recorder Nicholas Haggan KC said Havard’s actions have had a “very significant effect” and that the victims have found it “extremely difficult to return to work”.
Harvard previously pleaded guilty to robbery and threatening a person with a bladed or sharp-edged article, and was jailed for six years.
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