A TEENAGER held a knife to a man's throat as he robbed a shop.

Joel Thomas, 19, demanded cash from a female shop assistant and threatened a male member of staff at a service station in Worksop shortly before 9pm on June 29.

Nottingham Crown court heard that Thomas had a sock over his head and a six-inch kitchen knife with him.

When the male member of staff tried to stop him escaping Thomas shouted: "Open the door or I will knife you."

The man opened the door and Thomas ran off.

Thomas, of Dennis Street, Worksop, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a young offenders' institution after he pleaded guilty to robbery.

At Nottingham Crown Court, Judge Dudley Bennett said: "First, this was premeditated, and second, you were disguised. You were prepared not only to threaten the personnel with a knife, but also to hold it within inches of the person trying to stop you leaving the premises."