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This is the moment a Plymouth shop worker bravely fought off an armed robber.

The dramatic footage has been released by police after two men were jailed for four years apiece.

Cody Ware and Matthew West pleaded guilty to robbery at Plymouth Crown Court following an incident on the evening of April 25 at the Co-operative store in Peverell Park Road.

The court heard how the pair, both 28, who gave their addresses as Townsend House Hotel in Hermitage Road, Plymouth, entered the store together.

As Ware stood guard at the door, West approached the counter shouting ‘give me your f****** money’.

West, brandishing an electricity top up meter key as a weapon, then leapt onto the counter after the female shop worker barricaded the counter door.

He grabbed at the cash register but the brave shop worker leapt forward and wrestled with West.

West pushed and pulled the woman repeatedly but she held fast.

He eventually fled after grasping around £90.

The court heard the woman was left “petrified and shocked”, hysterically shouting for her colleague who was in the shop office.

Judge James Townsend, was told both men were already on licence for another joint robbery.

Police attended their Hermitage Road address where they found the pair and clothes matching those in the CCTV footage.



In interview West admitted his guilt, saying he was “very very sorry” for the incident, adding that he and Ware were stealing to get money for crack cocaine.

He later wrote a letter of apology to the shop worker.

The court heard how Ware had been given a five year term in January 2015 for two offences of robbery and one of attempted robbery, which took place in November 2014.

On those occasions he had acted as a getaway driver to knife-wielding co-defendant West, who was bizarrely disguised in a leopardskin onesie during some of the robberies.

The pair raided two newsagents and a petrol station.

In January 2017 Ware was handed another 28-months after he was caught with 2.9 grammes of the former legal-high ‘Spice’ and 31 anabolic steroid capsules in his cell at Dartmoor Prison.

Appeal court judges in London later halved his 28-month term, claiming it was “significantly above the guidelines.”

It was not explained to the court why both Ware and West, who have clearly carried out a number of joint robberies, were placed in the same Plymouth bail hostel following their release from prison.

Judge Townsend sentenced both men to four years imprisonment and both were ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £170.