“Successful” Chesterfield IT worker robbed petrol station after heroin addiction "fall from grace"

John Morley, 42, turned up at the Esso station on Derby Road, Chesterfield, in a balaclava, shouting “give me the money” to a terrified female worker.

Derby Crown Court heard this was previously “successful”, “law-abiding” IT worker Morley’s “first real venture into crime” – having developed a crack and heroin addiction

Prosecutor Eddie Leonard described how during the Esso robbery on January 23 at around 8pm at night the female worker was completely alone

As she tried to flee into a staff room Morley snatched her mobile phone and fled. CCTV showed he was in possession of a knife at the time.

Ms Leonard said as Morley leaned forward to grab the phone he touched a display and fingerprints on the knife found later at his address matched those on the display.

In a victim impact statement the garage worker said the robbery had left her “too frightened to go back to work” and feeling “isolated”.

The court heard how, in a separate offence, Morley had stolen two laptops while working at a Sheffield computer shop as he was “just p*****-off with his bosses”.

He also stole some hair-straighteners from a Boots store on another occasion.

Morley’s barrister Phillip Plant told the court single dad Morley had come from a “stable background” and “loving, dedicated parents” and had a successful career in the IT industry before he “fell a long way”.

Mr Plant said when he reached his early forties Morley “simply fell in with the wrong people” and developed a drug addiction, starting with crack cocaine and ending up addicted to heroin with a £500-£600 a day habit to feed.

After his arrest for the Esso robbery Morley told police “to see what I did on CCTV devastated me”. He added: “If I was not under the influence of drugs I would never have done it.

"I’ve let my family down, if I could take it back I would do.”

Mr Plant said Morley was now drug free, having detoxed while on remand in prison.

Judge Shaun Smith KC told Morley: “Some of the time I am dealing with people who have gone through whole lists of criminal offences and end up doing something as serious as this.

"But this is your first real venture into crime at the age of 42 as somebody who has lived a law-abiding, worthwhile life to someone who has sunk to the depths of running into a petrol station and terrifying a woman with a knife.

"You had fallen so far at the time you were sofa surfing an using illicit drugs and I don’t suppose you knew where your next fix was coming from.

"It was a big fall from grace but you have managed to sort yourself out while in prison.”

Morley, of Compton Street, Chesterfield, admitted robbery, theft and possessing a knife in a public place. He was jailed for three years.