Masked robber threatened to cut off woman's head

A masked robber has been jailed for more than three years after waving a meat cleaver - and threatening to cut off a woman shopkeeper's head.

Ryan Whitehead, 20, told the woman manager that he would decapitate her during the raid on a corner shop at Bettws in Newport. A court heard how he raided the Spar store just after it opened at 6.30am. Whitehead, who wore a ski mask and used a "fake accent" to disguise his voice, made off with just £50 pounds.

Prosecutor Nuhu Gobir said: "He climbed over the counter and threatened to chop the worker's head off while holding a domestic meat cleaver."

Whitehead appeared at Newport Crown Court where he admitted robbery and threatening a person with a blade in a public place at Bettws shopping centre. Judge Jonathan Furness said, "The manager had been terrified and there was a degree of force in the threat with the wielding of a meat cleaver."

Whitehead, of no fixed address, was jailed for three years and two months.