A CROOK who robbed a restaurant at knifepoint has been locked up.

Darren Connolly, 36, of Rumsey Fields, Danbury, was sentenced to 32 months in prison for robbery and a further six months, to run concurrently, for possessing a knife in a public place.

Officers responded to reports of a robbery at a restaurant in Chelmsford shortly before midnight on May 9, after a man entered a restaurant on High Street, threatened a member of staff with a knife and demanded cash from the till.

The staff member managed to get away and the man took the till which contained a three-figure sum of cash.

Officers found a man at a taxi rank on Springfield Road matching the description provided by the victim and arrested him on suspicion of robbery.

Connolly admitted both charges at Chelmsford Crown Court on June 13.