A KNIFEMAN has been jailed after he threatened to stab a shop assistant during a terrifying robbery.

Tobie Brophy, formerly of Chagford, went behind the counter of the Premier Store in Pinhoe Road, Exeter, on the pretext to looking for painkillers but then told the assistant ‘don’t panic, open the till or I will stab you’.

He had one hand in his pocket and the two staff and two customers in the shop all believed he was holding a knife. He grabbed a handful of banknotes from the till and fled, dropping one £20 note as he left.

Brophy had been arrested with a large knife elsewhere in Exeter two months earlier and has a history of violence, including a drug related attack in which the victim was stabbed and threatened with a gun.

He was released on bail after being arrested for carrying a knife in November last year and went on to rob the shop on the night of January 17 this year.

Brophy, aged 32, previously of Haymoor, Chagford, but now of Bovemoors Road, Exeter, admitted possession of a knife and robbery and was jailed for three years and four months with an 18 month extended licence by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘In full view and hearing or two customers and two staff, you demanded that one of them open the till or you would stab him. He was terrified.

‘You gave the clear impression by your body language that you might have had a blade hidden in your clothing.’

The judge ruled that Brophy was a dangerous offender who had aggravated his existing mental health issues with ‘drug binges’.

Mr Ian Graham, prosecuting, said worried passers-by called police to Willeys Avenue, Exeter on the night of November 16, 2021, after seeing a man in a dark hoodie and baseball cap brandishing a knife.

He dropped the weapon when police targeted him with tasers but then struggled as he was handcuffed and was tasered. He claimed he found the knife under a bush.

He raided the shop at 9.15 pm on January 17 and escaped with about £200 cash which he snatched from the till. The assistant said Brophy was very threatening and he was terrified.

Mr Adrian Chaplin, defending, said Brophy has made good progress in tackling long standing issues of substance abuse and mental illness while on remand in prison.

He said he is a trained barber who hopes to resume his career after he is released.