ROBBERS who terrified a teenage couple when they threatened them at knifepoint for just £20 have been jailed for a total of nine years.
Alan Davies, 39, and Jamie Nicholson, 27, both of no fixed address, were jailed for five years and four years respectively following the frightening ordeal on July 29, 2012.
Jacob Allen was celebrating his 18th birthday with his 16-year-old girlfriend Amelia Bambury when Nicholson, armed with a stanley knife and accompanied by Davies, threatened the pair.
Gloucester Crown Court heard the couple handed over £20 then took refuge in a kebab shop, while the men stayed outside.
The two robbers circled around outside the shop making throat-slitting gestures at the couple before Nicholson later stole another £5 from them.
The teenagers were only saved when Gloucester taxi driver Azam Choudry came to help them. He was praised by Record Martin Meeke QC.
Prosecutor Nick Fridd told the court the couple had been left afraid and always looking over their shoulders.
Representing Nicholson, Giles Nelson said he was born in Scotland, but abandoned by his parents aged just six.
He said: "This man was out of control. He was homeless and sofa surfing and frankly not in his right mind."
Defending Davies, Jason Coulter said: "When the knife was produced he appeared to be taken aback and said 'put that away – don't use it on them'."
Mr Fridd said less than 36 hours after robbery the pair had gone to a property in Ayland Gardens, Gloucester, armed with a crow bar and bolt cutters and left a man there with lumps in his head and shoulders.
They admitted violent disorder in relation to that incident, along with Denise Bicknell, 49, of Southgate Street, Gloucester.
Bicknell, who had been in a violent relationship with the victim, was jailed for 16 months after also admitting unlawful wounding.
Nicholson, who admitted the robbery, was also charged with possession of a knife. Davies was convicted following a trial at the same court earlier this week.
