A KNIFEMAN who robbed a Wrexham convenience store while drunk, leaving two women 'terrified' by the incident, has been jailed.

Michael David Roberts, 35, of Pen Y Bryn, Wrexham was given 32 months behind bars for robbery by Judge Rhys Rowlands after he appeared at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday, November 24.

The court heard that at around 9.35pm on February 27, 2020, Roberts had entered the Deniz Continental shop in Wrexham.

Wearing a dark jacket with his hood up and a scarf covering the lower half of his face, he approached the till and pointed a knife at the woman stood behind it before moving very close to her.

In a witness statement provided to the court, the complainant said that she opened the till as she had 'feared being stabbed' and 'froze'.

A second statement provided by another witness in the shop said she was 'shaking' during the incident.

Roberts then fled the scene, having stolen between £200 and £300.

The court was told that, following the incident, there had been no evidence to suggest that Roberts was responsible.

He had not even been a suspect in any investigation until he handed himself into Wrexham Police Station on October 9 of this year.

It was there that he confessed to entering the shop with a silver butter knife in hand. He told Police that he had an alcohol problem and had been intoxicated during the robbery.

He added that he had handed himself in as 'he could not live with the guilt' of what he had done.

The complainant's witness statement added that the incident had left her 'unable to sleep for a long time' as she had kept 'thinking about what would have happened had he used the knife'.

Judge Rowlands said that Roberts had shown 'courage' by confessing to police, adding that he 'would have got away with it' had he not done so.

However, he added that this 'did not make the offence any less serious'.

Judge Rowlands said: "You left two shop assistants terrified and frittered the money away on drink.

"This was a less sophisticated robbery. You admitted to police that you had drank up to 40 cans of lager beforehand and that there had been some planning one hour before.

"The effects (of the incident) are however profound and ongoing."

Roberts faced no separate penalty for carrying the knife as Judge Rowlands stated that this was 'part and parcel' of the robbery itself.

His sentence was reduced by a third to 32 months due to him having shown remorse and having had no previous similar convictions.