Serial robber who terrorised Wigan shop employees with a meat cleaver and wrench is caged

Neil Shaw was sent down by a Bolton judge after pleading guilty to four raids and three counts of possessing offensive weapons. A further robbery, offensive weapon possession, a burglary and a case of causing actual bodily harm were allowed to lie on file.

The 35-year-old’s violent spree began with a raid on at the CEX store in Leigh on December 23 last year. He went to the counter under the pretence of buying a disc, handed over money and then waited until the till was opened before partially pulling out an orange handle from his jacket and demanding cash in £20 notes. The cashier quickly handed over £340 and he ran from the store. It is unclear what the weapon was.

On New Year’s Day Shaw robbed Ladbrokes in Leigh. He walked in straight up to the cashier desk and said he had a gun and wanted all the money.

He was holding something concealed in a plastic bag. She emptied both tills containing around £200. When he was arrested he had a wrench in the plastic bag.

On January 6 Shaw, of Carlyle Grove, Leigh, struck at Bargain Buys in Wigan.

This time he made as if to buy a bottle of bicarbonate of soda but then told the cashier he had a gun and wanted everything out of the till and was holding something concealed in a plastic bag.

He then pulled out a meat cleaver, the cashier handed over £300 in notes and he fled the store.

Only a day later he targeted Atherton’s Subway outlet, entering the premises in the evening and demanding all the money from the till.

The member of staff behind the coounter said she didn’t have the key and he pulled a knife out and threatened to kill her.

She ran to the back of the store to safety while he stole the till in its entirety which contained between £1,600 and £1,700 and ran away.

Shaw was caught when he was identified from CCTV footage at both Bargain Buys and Subway by a police officer who knew him.