Robber jailed for five years

Peter Smith, 36, who stabbed his best friend to death in a drunken fight 13 years ago, walked into Wishing Tree Stores, in St Leonards, and demanded cash and cigarettes.

But he fled from the shop without any cash when he failed to smash his way into the till.

As he ran from the scene with cigarettes and tobacco he had stolen he was disarmed by two passers-by before being arrested by police nearby.

At Lewes Crown Court Smith, of Willingdon Avenue, St Leonards, admitted a charge of robbery.

Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, told the court Smith committed the offence on the evening of November 16 last year.

When he walked in to the store in Wishing Tree Road North, shop assistant Kirsty Stanbridge realised there was going to be trouble as she noticed he was trying to hide a claw hammer he was carrying.

He approached her brandishing the hammer and demanded: "Give me the money and the fags."

She escaped to safety at the back of the shop where she alerted the manager Mervyn Perira, who armed himself with a baseball bat and bravely went to confront Smith.

But when the robber threatened to hit him with the hammer if he did not get the money, Mr Perira retreated to the back of the shop.

He could hear Smith trying to smash his way into the till and contacted the police.

Smith, a builder, fled the shop but outside he was confronted by two passers-by who disarmed him of the hammer and when the police arrived they directed officers to an alley where the robber had gone.

When police arrested him, Smith said: "Yes it was me, I put my hands up, you got me."

Mr Cherrill said the shop assistant and manager suffered badly from the trauma of the robbery.

Judge Charles Kemp told Smith: "People who rob small shops are going to go to prison for a considerable period. Those people who man small shops are extremely vulnerable and are entitled to expect the protection the courts can give them."

Harry Bowyer, defending, said: "When he is sober he presents as a thoroughly decent man. He does display genuine regret and empathy for the victims of his actions."

The court heard Smith has previous convictions for violence and burglary. In 1995 he was sentenced to five years in jail at Lewes Crown Court after being convicted of the manslaughter of his best friend Glen Hitchman, 25, who was his sister's boyfriend, after a drunken row in which the dead man was stabbed in the stomach.