A THUG who attacked a cashier and tried to rob a petrol station while high on drink and cocaine was jailed for two years.

Daniel Williams, 26, drank a bottle of vodka and snorted cocaine before visiting the Esso garage, in London Road, Feering. He tried to buy alcohol from the night till window, but was told they did not have any.

He returned with a brick and hurled it through the glass door before climbing into the store through the broken glass. Chelmsford Crown Court heard the cashier sounded the panic alarm before Williams hurdled over the barrier to the till. He hit the cashier around the head repeatedly, dragged him around the floor while yelling: “Give me the money.”

The cashier was screaming “help me”, but Williams did not stop until the phone rang as a result of the panic alarm.

CCTV footage caught the attack on camera.

Williams fled empty-handed, only to phone police to confess two months later after seeing an appeal for information in the press.

He admitted attampted robbery on Saturday, January 31.

He apologised when he appeared at court yesterday and said he had lost control due to a combination of drink, drugs and a row with his girlfriend.

Judge David Turner, QC ,said: “I suspect what you did is every night-time cashier’s nightmare. The cashier was no doubt terrified.

“You may have been having a bad day, but that is not an excuse for your complete loss of control.”

Williams already had convictions for dishonesty, theft, burglary and breaches of orders.

He offered to apologise to the cashier. Williams, of no fixed address, will serve one year behind bars.