A YOUNG mum attempted to rob a Grimsby convenience store while viciously brandishing two knives because she was desperate for money to "get out of town".
Georgina Hall, 22, of Alexandra Road, left shop assistant Lisa Sellers "terrified" after bursting into the store in Gilbey Road at 12.50pm on March 3, before demanding cigarettes and cash from the till.
Appearing at Grimsby Crown Court, Hall admitted the offence – which she committed while "intoxicated on a mix of drink and drugs" – and was subject to a community order imposed for threatening police officers with a knife in December last year.
In CCTV footage shown to the court, Hall can be seen climbing on the shop counter on a number of occasions and lashing out with two kitchen knife- length blades towards the clearly distressed shop assistant.
Jayne Bryn, prosecuting, said it was only when local resident David Usher heard the commotion and came to the door of the shop, the incident came to a head.
She said: "He heard screaming and shouting and came across. He could see the defendant was armed with knives and was trying to climb over the counter."
Hall then turned the knives towards Mr Usher, shouting she "needed the money to get out of town".
He prevented her shutting the door of the shop, causing her to come outside and confront him.
However, when he asked her to put the blades down, she did so and ran away, leaving a trail of blood from a cut to her hand.
Speaking after the incident, Miss Sellers said she "could not bear to think" what could have happened had he not intervened.
Hall then walked into the kitchen of a property in nearby Elsenham Road, where she asked the shocked occupant of the house for a tea towel to stem the bleeding, adding she had "done something stupid".
When the woman's partner came into the kitchen with their eight-year-old and asked her to leave, she did so, taking a sock from the family's laundry basket for the wound to her hand.
Jailing her for six years, of which she will serve two behind bars and spend the rest on extended licence, Judge David Tremberg said she was "a young woman with a record of persistent violence" who presented a "high risk" of re-offending. He said: "Most people learn from experience. Sadly, at this stage of your life, you are not willing or able to do so."
