A DANGEROUS robber who tricked and terrified Ipswich petrol station cashiers has been jailed.Jerome Holder received the identical four-year prison sentence that his co-defendant Shaun Ellington was given at an earlier hearing, after an Ipswich Crown Court jury found them guilty of committing two robberies.

By HELEN SKENE

helen.skene@eveningstar.co.uk

A DANGEROUS robber who tricked and terrified Ipswich petrol station cashiers has been jailed.

Jerome Holder received the identical four-year prison sentence that his co-defendant Shaun Ellington was given at an earlier hearing, after an Ipswich Crown Court jury found them guilty of committing two robberies.

Holder, 25, of Lewisham, and Ellington, 26, of London, targeted garages with only one cashier manning the sales counter, the court heard.

Their technique was to select some sweets then approach the counter as if to pay for them.

However, as soon as the till was opened one of the robbers would launch himself across the counter and steal the cash.

On April 27 this year the defendants raided the Green Ace garage in Norwich Road and escaped with £140 and cigarettes.

The following day they pulled the same stunt at the Ranelagh Road Shell garage and took £50.

Both men admitted theft, but had denied the robbery offences they were later found guilty of.

Mr Recorder David Anderson QC said: "You told the cashier 'do not do anything and you will be all right. Don't press any buttons'.

"You intended to frighten the cashier into submission. Your crime relied on fear for its effectiveness."

The court heard that both defendants were involved in an £18,000 building society robbery in Bristol and were each jailed for six years in 2000.

Charles Kellett, mitigating for Holder, said his client never used or carried weapons during the raids.

He said Holder's friend had recently been shot dead in Brixton, and this had made him realise that if he did not change his ways it could happen to him.

Mr Anderson sentenced Holder to four years in prison and extended his release licence to ten years to "protect the public from this dangerous offender".