A teenager who struggled with a woman shop assistant while stealing £100 to pay off his drug supplier was sentenced to four years' detention on Wednesday.

Anthony Davis, 19, of St James Road, Braintree, admitted robbing Susan Cuddeford, 35, of Cuddeford's General Store, Bradford Street, Braintree.

Sending Davis to a Young Offenders Institution, Judge Brian Watling, QC, said: "Like so many young people today, you got involved in drugs, ran up a debt with a supplier and resorted to this robbery to pay the drug supplier off.

"This was a small local shop with a lone female assistant and you waited for the last customer to leave before you entered."

Jane McIvor, prosecuting at Chelmsford Crown Court, said that Davis paid for some chewing gum and pushed Miss Cuddeford off balance. When she realised that he was trying to grab money from the till, Miss Cuddeford grabbed Davis.

She fell against some shelving and was bruised. Davis ran off leaving behind a metal tube which Miss Cuddeford had not seen during the attack.

She recognised Davis and police quickly arrested him at his address. His fingerprints were on the metal tube.

John Wells, mitigating, said that it was a spontaneous decision to rob.

Davis picked up the tube on the way and put it up his sleeve, but had no intention of using it. Miss Cuddeford put up a lot of resistance and items were knocked off shelves as he wriggled. He had apologised to her in writing.

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