A KNIFE-WIELDING robber subjected shop workers to a terrifying knifepoint raid while out on bail and still wearing his prison clothes.

Lee Brooker, 34, had only just been released after appearing in court charged with stealing boxes of the tranquiliser diazepam from Braintree Pharmacy and alcohol from Tesco in Braintree town centre the previous day.

Despite being under a curfew, he stormed into the Co-op in Mountbatten Road, Braintree, at 9.20pm on October 26 with a steak knife, using his prison issue red jumper and a bandana to cover his face.

Brooker was caught within days and on Monday, after admitting a string of charges, he was jailed for a total of four years at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Co-op worker Hanna Berry said she initially thought the hold-up was a joke because it took place just days before Halloween.

She said: “Everything happened so quickly. He just came at me and said ‘Give me the money’.

“Because we had the pumpkins and everything out I just thought it was someone from the pub having a joke with us.

Braintree and Witham Times:

“He just looked so ridiculous that when he burst in the door I was eating a sweet and I spat it out and laughed.

“Then I clocked it was real.”

The 21-year-old said she was convinced she would be stabbed as Brooker swore and pushed her while she tried to find the key for the till.

Brooker, of Bocking End, Braintree, took about £150 in cash and lottery tickets – some of them already claimed – and ran out of the shop.

He was recognised on CCTV by the same officer who had arrested him just 24 hours earlier.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Hanna said the robbery left her frightened both at work and socially, but she has now overcome her fear.

She said: “I think I’m a strong person. I came back to work the next day but I didn’t feel safe for about a week.

“He hasn’t thought about how it affects people like us who were just at work, trying to earn some money.”

Judge Emma Peters sentenced Brooker to three years and four months for the robbery, six months for the pharmacy burglary and for two months for the Tesco theft.

Two other charges – assaulting a security guard and possessing a knife during the robbery – landed Brooker two months and one month in prison respectively.

These charges will be served at the same time as the other charges, meaning he will not spend extra time in prison for them.