A “FAGAN-LIKE” teenage criminal is facing a lengthy jail term for his involvement in two knifepoint robberies in a Cumbrian town.

In October, Paul Stuchfield covered his face before producing a blade and robbing a shop worker of cash just before midnight at an Esso garage in Penrith. Stuchfield, 19, later admitted being responsible for that robbery, carrying it out with a 15-year-old boy.

Three months later, on January 16, Stuchfield then played a key role as a woman was robbed at knifepoint and stabbed while trying to withdraw money from an ATM outside Barclays Bank at Penrith’s Market Square.

Stuchfield lurked nearby in the darkness as a 16-year-old male carried out the terrifying offence. He had earlier been boasting, in a town McDonald’s, that he and others were going to rob a woman.

A knife with a blade bent almost 90 degrees was recovered from the crime scene.

Stuchfield - and a 14-year-old boy who was in his company at McDonald’s - denied a charge of conspiracy to rob. But both were found unanimously guilty following a Carlisle Crown Court trial.

In an impact statement, the cashpoint victim - who suffered lower body knife puncture wounds - told how the incident has scarred her both mentally and physically.

Judge James Adkin adjourned the case, and will sentence both Stuchfield, of Kirkoswald, near Penrith, and the 14-year-old at future separate hearings after considering background reports.

“You should expect a long custodial sentence,” he told Stuchfield who, he said, had acted “as a Fagan-like character, employing younger children to do his dirty work.”

*The 16-year-old cashpoint robber was sentenced to 28 months’ detention at a crown court hearing in May.