AN armed robber who terrified staff at a Redditch Cash Converters shop has been locked up for two years and three months.

Jordan Hurlestone walked into the shop wearing a black hood on March 1 and smashed a glass case containing jewellery, Worcester Crown Court was told.

He used an implement to threaten the manager and grabbed jewellery worth £2,000 from a cabinet. It was a very quick incident, said Laura Culley, prosecuting.

Hurlestone, aged 19, of Willow Way, Redditch, was caught on CCTV and five days later went into a stone in Birmingham's jewellery quarter to try and sell the stolen items.

He was arrested but claimed he was at home with his mother when the robbery took place.

He had five previous convictions on his record but his counsel, Abigail Nixon, said there were none of a similar nature. He had resorted to robbery because he was out of work and desperate for money as he was soon to become a father. He had not intended to hurt anybody and had used an implement just to shock.

Judge Michael Cullum, who watched CCTV of the raid, said staff must have been terrified.