Teenagers are locked up after robbery spree

COURT: One held broken bottle to shop worker’s neck while other raided counter

Two armed robbers who held up a Tesco shop when they were both aged just 15 have been locked up.

The two boys – now aged 16 and who cannot be named because of their age – first trashed a Co-op store in Anstruther causing “large-scale disruption” by hurling bottles of booze at staff and knocking over stands and tables.

One had downed four bottles of Buckfast before setting off on their crime spree.

At one point one of the teenagers broke down during their rampage – crying: “I’ve made my parents’ lives a misery.”

However, once they finished, the pair then travelled to a Tesco shop in the centre of St Andrews and carried out a “terrifying” armed robbery – holding a broken bottle to the neck of a staff member as they raided the store’s cigarette counter.

The first teen, aged 16, of Rossie School, Angus, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of assault, behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and assault and robbery.

The second, also 16, of St Monans, admitted two charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and a further charge of assault and robbery.

Sheriff Alastair Brown sentenced them to 18 months’ detention each in a young offenders institution.

Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court that staff at the Tesco store had been “terrified” during the robbery, which was captured in full on CCTV.

One of the boys is seen holding a jagged piece of glass to a member of staff as another worker leaps over a counter to escape. The other boy then ransacks the counter area, stuffing his jacket with cigarettes and lighters before they ran off. The pair were caught nearby by police who attended the scene.

Andrew Grieve, defending the first teen, said his client was detained in a secure school and asked the case be adjourned for him to prove he could engage with workers there.

Defence solicitor Scott McKenzie, for the second boy, said: “He is ashamed of the assault and apologises to that person.”

However, Sheriff Brown said: “An adult who goes in to a supermarket and presents a broken bottle at members of staff in the course of a robbery can expect a sentence of around six to seven years imprisonment.”