Man jailed for robbing garage in South Cumbria armed with meat cleaver

A drug user who robbed a terrified a filling station shop worker while armed with a meat cleaver has been jailed for more than five years.

Colin Eaves, 33, had his face covered with a balaclava when he entered the Burton Road Texaco store at Oxenholme, South Cumbria, at around 10:30pm on November 22.

Eaves vaulted over the counter, produced the meat cleaver with a six-inch blade and demanded cash from the till, along with tobacco and alcohol.

As the petrified 60-year-old long-serving lone employee desperately scrambled for items, Eaves was “calm, calculated and menacing” as he held the weapon above his head and warned: “I will use this if I need to. If I don’t get what I want I will chop your head off.”

Eaves walked out of the shop but left a trail of damning evidence in his wake. Two passing members of the public were able to give descriptions to police who found items used in the robbery in nearby woodland.

These included clothing worn by Eaves during the raid, the cleaver and footwear which matches marks left on the shop counter and images of himself. He was found cowering in the loft of a Kendal address two days later.

Prosecutor Richard Haworth told Carlisle Crown Court how the “terrified” victim had suffered worsening health since the incident, had been nervous of returning to work and suffered flashbacks and nightmares. “He said he was in genuine fear for his life,” said Mr Haworth.

Eaves, previously of Lound Road, Kendal, admitted robbery and weapon possession, and was sentenced on Wednesday.

The court heard Canada-born Eaves, a drug user who had suffered several family bereavements within a short space of time, was “remorseful” for a crime he had committed to raise cash and pay off a drug debt, and faced possible deportation when released from custody.

Jailing Eaves for 64 months, Judge Nicholas Barker concluded he had targeted the shop, worker, saying: “I have no doubt that you knew he was alone. I have no doubt that you knew this was a vulnerable time for him.”