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Mold teenager jailed for armed post fofice robbery

A TEENAGE gunman dubbed the Cinderella robber has been locked up – after leaving a shoe behind as he fled.

Kieran Griffiths, 17, from Mold, lost one of his trainers when he was hit by a car after he ran out of a post office he had just robbed in Hulme, Manchester.

He and an accomplice were both hooded and masked when they burst into the store last July.

Graphic design student Griffiths first pointed the gun at an elderly customer and then at a terrified shop assistant, who froze in fear when he repeatedly shouted ‘open the till’.

The teenager then pushed the female assistant, 33, to one side and tried in vain to open the till himself.

The shop worker pressed a panic alarm, which prompted Griffiths and his accomplice to run away with just a few packets of cigarettes.

But Griffiths ran into the path of a Skoda Octavia, rolled off the bonnet and limped away, minus a Nike trainer which had come flying off.

Detectives found traces of Griffiths’s DNA on both the trainer and an imitation handgun found nearby.

Griffiths was arrested and later – in the face of overwhelming evidence – pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.

He was jailed for three years and four months at Manchester Crown Court this week.

Gillian Crossley, defending, told the court Griffiths had moved to the Manchester area from his home in Mold to improve his prospects.

Despite coming out of school with only two GCSEs, he managed to impress staff at Manchester College with a portfolio of art work and was accepted on to a degree course in graphic design.

Ms Crossley: “He became eligible for a grant. It was spent entirely on a hedonistic life with drink, drugs, parties and clothes. Very quickly that money went.”

Locking Griffiths up, the Recorder of Manchester Andrew Gilbart told him: “A lot of students in this country fritter away their grant money on all the things they should not – but they don’t threaten shopkeepers with a gun.”

He added: “You have thrown away your liberty for a few packets of cigarettes. That is a tragedy for your family.”

A 17-year-old from North Wales, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with robbery and is due to appear before magistrates on February 17.

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