A BUTCHER who pointed a knife at a shop worker before stealing cash in a terrifying robbery in Cwmbran has been jailed.

Ryan Davies, 25, of Ledbrook Close, Cwmbran, armed himself with a vegetable knife before entering the Spar in Greenmeadow Square at around 7.20pm on February 11 and stealing cash, Newport Crown Court heard yesterday.

John Ryan, prosecuting, said Davies pointed the knife -with a three to four inch blade - at the 22-year-old shop worker who was alone behind the counter and demanded that he open the till.

“The worker got the keys and Davies, still holding the knife, said “Get the money out,”” Mr Ryan told the court.

“He was petrified. The defendant took notes and a handful of coins before calmly walking away.

“The shop worker broke down in tears after the incident.”

A total of £106 was stolen.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the shop worker said he had genuinely felt his life was under threat.

He said he since felt “vulnerable” when working alone behind the till and “uneasy” when “shifty-looking people” entered the store.

But he said he was determined to overcome the incident.

CCTV footage appears to show that Davies had been in the store earlier when he bought some cigarettes.

Mr Ryan said this suggested Davies, who has a two-year-old daughter, had planned the robbery.

When he was arrested on February 13, Davies told police: “I am not going to lie, it was me.”

He told police he had dumped his jacket with the knife in near a bowling green.

Sarah Iles, defending, said Davies - employed by his father as a butcher - had been drinking alcohol and taken prescription drugs prior to the incident.

She said the crime was “completely out of character.”

“Work had been quiet and money was tight in the family home,” added Ms Iles.

She said no threat of violence was made and the robbery would have lasted around two minutes

Judge Gaskell, sentencing, said: “This was a disgraceful robbery of a small local shop which provides a public service.”

He said Davies had “bright prospects” having just secured a new job and there was “no reason” for him to carry out the raid.

“You have been an exceptionally stupid young man,” he told Davies.

Sentencing, he gave credit to Davies for his early guilty plea and for assisting the police.

Davies was sentenced to two years in prison. He will serve half before being released on license. He was also ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.