Three years for would-be shop robber

A Wigan man caught on film walking into an off-licence on the road where he lived armed with a kitchen knife has been jailed for attempted robbery.

David O’Reilly was captured on closed circuit television going into the News And Booze outlet on Bickershaw Lane, Bickershaw, at 9.40pm on May 5 this year.

Bolton Crown Court heard he was wielding a large kitchen knife and told the shopkeeper to close the shop and hand the keys over to him.

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But then the defendant, who later claimed he was under the influence of drink and drugs, left empty-handed.

The judge was told that the police were called and O’Reilly was recognised from the CCTV footage after it was re-run.

Officers went the short distance to his home further along Bickershaw Lane where they recovered the clothes that he had been wearing along with the knife with which he had been armed.

He told police that he could not recall what he had been doing at the time and had taken drugs and alcohol, the court heard. But the hearing was told that O’Reilly accepted that he was the man in the CCTV footage pictured with the knife.

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He pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article when he appeared before Wigan and Leigh magistrates last month but was committed by the justices to crown court for sentence on account of the crimes’ seriousness where he was jailed for three years.

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