Bungling Derbyshire robber jailed for holding up a shop - armed with a cardboard toilet roll tube

Paul McDonald, 48, stormed into the store and demanded money while aiming something he was hiding under his jumper at a shop worker.

Believing it was a gun, the teenage cashier immediately handed over a small amount of cash.

McDonald fled the shop in Wollaton Steet, Nottingham city centre, but was chased by the hero shop worker.

He managed to rugby tackle McDonald to the ground and discovered the ‘weapon’ was in fact an empty loo roll.

McDonald dropped the cash and ran away again but police caught him a few minutes later on April 14 this year.

The crook, of St Mary’s Court, Derby, admitted robbery and having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence.

This week he was jailed for three years at Nottingham Crown Court.

Detective Constable Rob Marsden, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “McDonald’s decision that day to storm into the store and threaten someone with what they believed was a gun was completely unacceptable and reckless in the extreme.

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“At the time of the robbery, the shop worker had no way of knowing for sure that the object being pointed at him was anything other than a real firearm.

“This must have been a terrifying experience for the teenage victim, who will have believed they were in danger of being seriously hurt throughout the ordeal.

“While McDonald wasn’t carrying a weapon during this incident, this was still an incredibly serious offence, so I’m pleased to see this has been reflected in the length of the sentence handed out to him.”