'Dangerous' and desperate knifeman tried to rob Leeds store over debt threat to girlfriend
A desperate criminal tried to rob a convenience store at knifepoint after drug dealers threatened him and his girlfriend with violence.
Lance Mace pulled out the blade and attempted to take cash from the till at GJ Food & Wine in Armley last year.
He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting robbery and having a bladed article, with the judge deeming him a danger to the public. He also pleaded guilty to shop theft and a minor criminal damage from unrelated incidents.
He had entered a medical centre pharmacy on November 11 last year with another man and brazenly emptied shelves of £150 worth of cough medicines and cosmetics, filling up a bag-for-life before being verbally challenged. They then left but Mace was recognised, having done it before.
The 36-year-old, who has a lengthy criminal record, then entered the Town Street convenience shop the next at around 2pm and asked the worker if he wanted to buy any of the medicine he had stolen the day before, but was turned down.
He left, but then returned at 6.20pm, propped open the door with his bag, pulled out the small kitchen knife and told the worker to open the till. He then moved into the till area himself and tried to force it open when told it could not be opened.
Giving up, he then grabbed bottles of alcohol worth £37 and left the shop.
With more than 41 previous convictions, police recognised him from the shop footage and went to his home address on Armley Ridge Road, Armley, later that evening. He was found hiding in undergrowth by a police dog.
He admitted the robbery during his interview. His previous convictions include battery, theft, affray, threatening behaviour, burglary and having offensive weapons.
Mitigating, Mollie Briggs said he has been battling drugs addiction for 15 years, and had only just been released from prison before committing his latest offences.
She said his partner had run up an drug debt and was being threatened. Mace claims he was hit with a hammer as a warning, and still wears an arm brace as he recovers. He was wearing the brace as he appeared in court for the sentencing via video link from HMP Leeds.
She said he grew up in South Africa, was living on the streets in Johannesburg before coming to the UK when he was 14. She said he is now clean from drugs.
Judge Simon Batiste gave him an extended sentence, made up of 40 months’ jail with a two-year extended licence period.