PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: Joe Crossley
A “dangerous” substance abuser has been jailed after threatening to kill workers at his local petrol station with a fake gun during a robbery.
Michael Pollock was “off his face” on booze and cocaine when he stormed into the BP garage in Bapchild, near Sittingbourne, Kent, brandishing the “weapon”.
The 35-year-old lives in the same road and was recognised by staff who raised the alarm and thwarted his efforts.
Pollock appeared at Maidstone Crown Court last week where the judge heard he had called the shop on October 12 before raiding it.
He had asked staff what time it shut and whether the cash machine was working.
Pollock, who is a serial offender, could then be seen entering the store at around 9.30pm in CCTV footage, which captured the incident unfolding.
Karthrick Thriupathi, who was working near the counter, saw Pollock and recognised him as a customer as he was not wearing a face covering.
The robber approached his colleague, Thiyagarajan Shanmugam, who was stocking the shelves with Head and Shoulders shampoo, and pulled out a small “handgun” from his blue hoodie.
Pollock, who was also wearing a black beanie and black joggers, pointed it at his leg and threatened him.
Prosecutor Bridget Todd read out what he had said to his victims to the court. He had said: “I am going to shoot you if you do not come and open the cash machine.”
When the dad-of-two young children said he did not know the code for the machine, Pollock turned his attention to Mr Thriupathi, who had pushed the panic button behind the counter.
He threatened him by saying, “You have a family. I will kill you.”
While pointing the gun at him, Pollock grabbed a 20cl bottle of Bell's Whiskey, which he attempted to put in his hoodie pocket, but dropped it.
He also managed to grab between £50 and £100 worth of cash from the drawer.
At this point, Mr Thriupathi managed to snatch the “gun” from Pollock, and he realised that it was fake and threw it at him as he fled the store.
Before the raid, Pollock had sprayed the gun with a metal colour to make it look real. He also admitted to having been “off his face” on cocaine and alcohol.
While this was happening, Mr Shanguman ran out of the store and called the police. He later told officers he was thinking “this was going to hurt” when Pollock levelled the gun at him while “shouting at him aggressively”.
He also said he was “scared” about what would happen to his children if something were to happen to him.
Both workers followed Pollock out of the shop and towards his home, demanding he return the stolen cash.
Police arrested him at his home within an hour of being called. Officers found him sitting in an armchair in the living room, wearing the same clothes that he had on during the robbery.
They also found a machete, but he faced no charges in relation to its possession.
Pollock admitted two counts of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and a charge of robbery when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court in November.
He has 18 previous convictions for 35 offences ranging from burglary and shoplifting.
At a sentencing hearing last Wednesday (March 25), Pollock’s barrister Niall Doherty said he had robbed the shop to get money to pay for medication for his ill father.
He added: “He is really sorry for his behaviour, has sympathy for his victims and accepts responsibility for his actions.
“He wants to turn his life around. He is one of four Samaritans who induct people into HMP Elmley, and wants to continue that.
“He has, in his own words, been ‘squeaky clean’ while in prison and has not taken any drugs.”
However, Judge Lee Harris said the only mitigation was that Pollock had entered a guilty plea at his first opportunity and believed he had only done so because he had been caught “red-handed”.
He said: “Your offending is escalating in seriousness, and you are dangerous in the [eyes of the] law.
“You [also] have a history of substance misuse. This is not a Hollywood movie. It’s hard to overestimate how scary what you did was to those poor people.
“Imagine that was you going about your daily business, and someone came in and threatened you with a gun.
"What makes this worse is that you had planned this. You wanted them to be scared.”
Judge Harris sentenced Pollock to six years and two months in prison, which he must serve two-thirds of before any chance of parole.
He gave him a four-year extended sentence, which he will have to serve when he leaves prison.