TWO men have been warned that prison sentences are the “only option” after they admitted being involved in an early morning armed robbery at a Workington convenience store.
Police were called at around 8am on November 4 to reports of a raid at the McColl’s shop on Harrington Road, and “two men entering with an axe and a crowbar”. “A sum of money and tobacco was taken, and the men left the store,” a Cumbria Constabulary spokesman said after the incident.
Mark Huddart, 29, and 34-year-old Brian Andrew Holliday appeared at Carlisle Crown Court this morning (FRI). During a short hearing before Judge Nicholas Barker, both men admitted robbing a male McColls employee of a money and tobacco on that date.
Huddart, of no fixed address, and Holliday, of Harrington Road, Workington, appeared over separate prison video links and spoke to confirm their names, dates of birth and to enter their guilty pleas.
Their case was adjourned and Judge Barker ordered the preparation of pre-sentence reports but only, he stated, to examine the men’s respective circumstances and their motivation for committing the crime.
“The only option is custody,” said Judge Barker, who told the men: “It is of course, you will well appreciate, a serious matter – entering into this store, and being armed and threats made and demands.”
Huddart and Holliday are due to be sentenced by a judge at the crown court on January 22, and in the meantime both were remanded in custody by the judge.
