A “COWARDLY” gang of teenagers wielding a hammer raided a petrol station of thousands of pounds of cigarettes before attempting to rob a pub just hours later.

The masked teenagers, one just 15, burst into the BP garage in North Baddesley, threatening a lone staff member, who they kicked and pushed into an office.

The gang emptied a cigarette cabinet of £8,000 worth of cigarettes before taking the employee’s car keys and making off in his Peugeot.

Hours later the group attempted a similar raid at the Bellemoor Tavern, Shirley, Southampton, threatening staff with the hammer.

But they were thwarted by the pub’s manager, who wrestled the weapon from one of the gang – who then fled the scene.

Now, one of the group, Jordan Peat, 18, of Burns Road, Thornhilll, has been jailed for eight years for his part in the robbery.

 

A second gang member, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for more than three years. A third member, aged 17, who also cannot be named, failed to attend court and will now be sentenced next month.

Prosecutor Tim Compton said the gang began their crime spree at the garage on Botley Road. He said the group entered the kiosk around 10pm on September 8, with one carrying a hammer. They threatened an employee and forced him into an office.

They demanded a key to the safe, which he said he did not have, before taking his car keys, raiding the cigarette cabinet before leaving in the Peugeot 206.

At around 1am, the group pulled up at the Bellemoor Tavern, in Hill Lane.

The masked group burst into the pub, which was being closed-up, and threatened staff with the hammer. But pub manager Steve Hurley confronted the armed robber and wrestled the weapon away from him.

The group fled and got a taxi, but were tracked down by police, who found the stolen cigarettes.

 

In mitigation, Charles Gabb representing Peat, who admitted robbery and attempted robbery, said: “He recognises this is a very, very serious point in his life. Either he becomes institutionalised or he realises he is 18 and has some 60 years of good life ahead of him if he chooses.”

In sentencing, Judge Christopher Parker described the gang as “cowardly”.

He said: “You young men, as a gang, all masked up and with a hammer, burst into that garage and threatened the staff member and kicked him and pushed him into an office.He (the victim) should never have been subjected to that by you.

“But you didn’t stop there, you carried on and not long after went on to the Bellemoor Tavern.

“One staff member in there was a woman who was petrified by your stupid and cowardly behaviour.”