A 27-year-old man has been jailed for three years and 11 months after he robbed the Spar shop in Willaston at knife point.

Steven Wesley Johnston, of Tynwald Road in Willaston, wore a mask as he brandished a kitchen knife at shop staff and shouted: ’This is a robbery. Open the tills.’

He later told police that he needed the cash to pay off a drug debt.

Johnston was also found guilty after a jury trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery after he had denied robbing a man in October 2015. He also admitted wounding a man with a glass in March 2015 in Sugar Sugar nightclub in Wellington Street in Douglas.

Dealing with the Spar robbery, prosecutor Rachael Braidwood told the court how, on January 16 last year, two women were working at the Spar shop in Snaefell Road, mopping the floor at 9.30pm.

Johnston appeared behind one of them, pushing her and repeatedly shouting: ’This is a robbery.’

mask

He was wearing a black mask with eye holes and a top with the hood zipped up.

He was said to be waving a kitchen knife with a blade of around 10cm and ushered the women towards the cash till saying: ’Give me the money, I’m not going to hurt you.’

The women tried to stall Johnston by pretending to look for the keys and one of them pressed the panic button.

Johnston noticed this and became more aggressive, swearing and shouting: ’Did you press that button?’

They opened the till and he grabbed the cash, said to be around £500, before leaving the shop and shouting: ’I’m going to get people to come back.’

The women believed that the masked man was a regular customer as they said he had a very distinctive walk.

When police viewed CCTV footage, an officer also thought he recognised Johnston, due to his unusual gait.

He was later arrested at his home in Tynwald Road but denied committing the robbery saying that he had been at home at the time.

However, a footprint found at the shop matched trainers worn by Johnston and police found remnants of a cut up and burnt mask in his garden.

drug

Johnston pleaded guilty in court and entered a basis of plea saying that he was under pressure to pay a drug debt and it had been suggested to him that he commit a robbery to get the money.

At the time of the robbery Johnston was on bail for a wounding offence after he hit a man with a glass object in Sugar Sugar nightclub in March 2015.

The victim suffered a deep cut near his eye and was taken to hospital for stitches.

Johnston pleaded guilty to the wounding charge and entered a basis of plea saying that the victim had hit him on the arm and leg before the incident. He said he had picked up a glass or a bottle and was not sure whether he had hit the man with it or thrown it at him, but accepted he had injured him.

Johnston had also been arrested for robbing a teenager in the street in October 2015.

He was said to have grabbed the 17-year-old by the throat and punched him on the jaw, threatening to ’cut him up’, though no knife was ever produced during that robbery.

Defending Johnston in court his advocate Paul Rodgers said: ’There are two key factors. The diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and his drug use.

’He had a dependency and got in debt with drug dealers, unscrupulous people. They knocked on the door of his house and he felt pressured to provide money.’

stabbed

The court heard that Johnston was diagnosed with PTSD due to being stabbed in the leg in 2009 and would be undergoing psychiatric treatment while in prison as well as getting help for his drug misuse.

He was sentenced at the the Court of General Gaol Delivery to 13 months for the wounding, 11 months for the street robbery and one year and 11 months for the Spar robbery.