A CUSTOMER who tried to rob a petrol station shop after finding nothing valuable to steal is back behind bars.

Shelley Graham went to the Shell garage in West End, Guisborough, at 12.30am claiming another local store was closed and she needed some groceries.

When the lone female assistant locked the door behind her to stop anyone else entering for security reasons, Graham told her: "You do right. Keep yourself safe."

After walking up and down the aisles picking things off the shelves, she approached the worker and calmly told her: "I want all your money out of the till."

The woman thought Graham was joking and laughed, but realised she was serious when she said: "Don't make me get my sh*t out. Don't make me mad."

Teesside Crown Court heard how the frightened worker locked herself in a back office and called the police, while her captive customer was yelling: "Let me out, let me out."

When she was arrested, Graham said she was desperate after just getting out of prison with no money and nowhere to live.

She told police she had gone to the filling station shop to steal, but there was nothing worth taking and decided to rob the till contents.

She confessed that she wanted the member of staff to believe she had a weapon, and would use it if necessary.

Robin Turton, mitigating, told Judge Deborah Sherwin: "It was a very general suggestion that she made, and it really is that which makes it a robbery.

"It is not a specific threat like 'I have got a knife and I am going to use it' or 'I have got a gun'.

"She clearly wanted to be arrested and helped by stealing. It went a step further than that. She regrets that that was the case, and regrets the position she put the shop assistant in."

Graham, of no fixed abode, but formerly of Aislaby Court, Guisborough, admitted attempted robbery and was jailed for 16 months.

Judge Sherwin told her: "I am quite satisfied you knew there was only you and the assistant alone in the shop at the time, so she can be considered vulnerable in that way.

"You went on to threaten her in a fairly vague and unspecific way, about something in your bag, and you wanted money from the till.

"I have no doubt at the time it was very frightening and very unpleasant for her."

The court heard how Graham was locked up for theft and handling stolen goods last year following a raid at another filling station shop in Guisborough.

Two men went into the store with a meat cleaver and knife and escaped with £900 – while the partner of one waited in a getaway car with Graham in the back seat.

The car ran out of petrol nearby, and the four were caught after the driver of a taxi they called was suspicious about the robbers discarding their clothes.