A MASKED robber who targeted a late-opening Workington shop subjected the two vulnerable women who were working there to a “terrifying” experience, a court heard.

The victims of 29-year-old Mark Little’s crime bravely attempted to trap him behind the counter of the Morrisons Daily store in Harrington Road before he escaped.

But as he did so he dropped cigarette packets he had stolen, leaving vital fingerprint evidence. The raid was part of a 72-hour crime spree.

At an earlier court hearing, the defendant, of Peart Road, Maryport, admitted robbery as well four shop thefts – one from the same Morrisons, one at Boots, and two at Tesco.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Andrew Evans summarised the crime spree. The first offence happened at 4pm on January 26 when Little walked into the shop and stole an egg and bacon sandwich.

The next day, at 10.35pm, Little returned to store, walking quickly up to the woman who was working at the tills. “He snarled at her: ‘Get the money out of the till',” said Mr Evans. She refused.

He then grabbed her by both wrists and shoved her towards the tills. The prosecutor continued: “She shouted for help from her colleague.” Despite this, Little shouted even more loudly, demanding money.

The second woman working at the shop intervened, putting herself between Little and her colleague, forcing him to let her go. He then went to the tills, but the women shouted that he would not be able to break into it.

CCTV footage showed the women briefly leaving the shop to shout for help while inside Little helped himself to bottles of spirits and cigarettes from the till area.

Seeing this, one of the women ran back into the shop and closed the door to the till area to trap Little.

But he vaulted the counter and put the woman in a headlock.

The second worker responded by yelling for him to release her, while pulling down his mask so his face would be exposed to the CCTV camera. In the struggle, he dropped some of the cigarette packets he had stolen.

“It was a fingerprint on one of those packets that forensically linked him to the offence,” said Mr Evans.

Within hours of the robbery, Little stole spirits from Tesco, and then two days later he stole again from the same store and from Boots, where he failed to pay for sun-cream.

His 54 previous offences include thefts, low level violence and carrying weapons.

In an impact statement, the woman who was roughly manhandled by Little spoke of how stressful the incident had been, leaving her feeling anxious and “miserable” when she is at work.

Years ago, she said, somebody had approached the shop’s door with a crowbar, but he was later jailed and that allowed her fear to settle down. But the robbery brought that anxiety back.

She had feared that Little may have been armed.

“The man who did this,” she said, “was big and strong and I could not do anything when he had hold of me. I should be able to go to work and feel safe.”

Sean Harkin, defending, said the force used by Little had not been intended to “hurt” the victim and there had been no explicit threat of extreme violence.

The lawyer said: “Most of his offending has been low-level. This appears to be an escalation.

"He is remorseful; he feels awful about what has happened. He was in something of a desperate situation, though that does not excuse his behaviour. He was homeless and in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction.

“His crimes were born out of some level of desperation.”

Recorder Julian Shaw described the defendant’s criminal record as “appalling.”

Referring to the ordeal endured by the two shop workers, the judge said: “This would have been a terrifying experience for anyone.”

He jailed Little for three years and eight months.

Imposing a 12-year criminal behaviour order that bans him from returning to stores in the area, the judge added: “The shops in Maryport and Workington have been plagued by your offending for far too long.”