A MAN who robbed a store at knifepoint has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

Stephen Lee Martin Kent, 49, admitted going into the Bon Bon convenience store in Queen Street, Weymouth, armed with a lock knife and taking £50 cash.

A court heard it was a ‘frightening experience’ for the female staff members involved.

At the sentencing at Dorchester Crown Court, Angela England, prosecuting, described the incident and showed the court CCTV footage from inside the shop which recorded the offence on the evening of August 25.

She said: “There were two relatively vulnerable female shop workers alone in the shop at the time of the offence.”

She described how Kent walked into the shop with the blade extended out before him and walked towards the two women.

Miss England added that in their fear they closed the cash desk before opening it again and dropping cash on the floor that Kent went round and picked up before leaving the shop.

Miss England said that the police were called and Kent was found just minutes later.

She said: “He was under a parked car. When police arrested him they found in his pocket the open lock knife with the blade open.”

Judge Christopher Harvey Clark heard that Kent had a history of previous convictions including a wounding offence.

Miss England told the court that Kent had been released from prison on August 19, less than a week before the offence.

She said that Kent admitted to officers: “I only did it to go back to prison.”

In mitigation Richard Tutt said that when his client had been released from prison he had been given a discharge grant of £47 and a travel voucher.

Mr Tutt said: “Having been released in the way that he was he had no address and no accommodation.

“He went to Weymouth and Dorchester to sort accommodation and was told there was no accommodation available and he wasn’t a priority.”

Mr Tutt said that Kent then had his rucksack stolen from him on Weymouth beach. This contained medication he needed to take as he was quite ill. He added that Kent had had problems with alcohol for a number of years.

He said: “He went to his former GP to get some more but because he was of no fixed abode they couldn’t give it.

“None of it can excuse what he did but he is himself a vulnerable man and it would seem the system may have simply washed its hands of him when he was released.”

Judge Harvey Clark sentenced Kent to two years and eight months in prison for the robbery and one year for the possession of the bladed article to run concurrently.

He said: “You went into a Weymouth shop brandishing a lock knife and pointed it at two female shop assistants.”

He added: “It was a very frightening experience for the two women.”

Judge Harvey Clarke said that Kent had written a letter of apology to the court and to the victims. He said: “It would seem you are totally ashamed of what you did.”