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A robber who held up a Nice n’ Naughty sex shop at gunpoint wearing a dress and a wig had a £50,000 per year job at Jaguar Land Rover.

Graham Perryman held a handgun to the head of a terrified woman working alone in the city centre shop and demanded cash – leaving her so traumatised she developed a thick grey streak in her hair.

But when Perryman, a man with a family and a good salary, was asked by his lawyers why he did it, he said even if an explanation would set him free today, he still could not give one.

The 50-year-old, of Jacob Street in Toxteth , was jailed for five-and-a-half years at Liverpool Crown Court today after admitting robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.

He also pleaded guilty to production of cannabis and abstracting electricity.

Police found nine cannabis plants in his loft when they came to arrest him - after DNA led them to his door 13 months later.

Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, told the court the woman was alone in the Colquitt Street shop, at around 5.40pm, on August 28, 2016, when Perryman walked in.

(Image: Lynda Roughley)

Ms Snowdon said: “She was in the back and then came to the shop floor where she saw the defendant dressed in women’s clothing, wearing a red dress, tights, and a cap, a black scarf and holding a leather handbag.

“She greeted him and he responded ‘this is serious’. She said ‘ok’ and he then pulled a handgun, a black square pistol of metallic appearance, out of the handbag and pointed it at her and said ‘this is serious love, get in the back’.”

The court heard the victim feared Perryman would rape and kill her at this stage and bravely fought back, pushing the gun away and causing the attacker’s wig to fall off.

Ms Snowdon said the woman fled towards the exit but Perryman got there first, closing the door and shoving her against a wall.

She told the court: “He pinned her there, holding the gun against her head. She described how she thought she was dead and thought about her son."

After again trying to push the gun away, the victim went to the till and handed over some notes.

Perryman told her to “keep your hands where I can see them” before grabbing his wig and fleeing the shop.

The traumatised victim contacted police and the following year was able to pick Perryman out of a line-up.

A victim personal statement from the woman said: “I used to be confident, now I am nervous and jumpy. I used to be a trusting person but now I am suspicious of people and think they have an agenda. Just talking about the incident my voice starts wobbling.”

The court heard the woman experienced nightmares involving being shot in the head and has been diagnosed with PTSD.

Perryman had been out of serious trouble since 1991 when he was jailed for seven years for a spate of armed robberies involving firearms.

Frances Hertzog, defending, said her client was “plagued by guilt” over his behaviour but could not say why he had done it.

She told the court: “This represents a significant fall from grace for Mr Perryman. While he has committed some very serious, very similar offences, they were a very long time ago, 25 years.

“He had very much turned his life around and he was a man who was very proud he had not re-offended and not become another statistic...

“He said if you were to ask me in one sentence why I did it, and I would be able to go home and go free, I would not be able to.”

Ms Hertzog said Perryman’s wife, a former department head at a college in West Derby, had become “crippingly ill” with Guillain-Barré Syndrome – a debilitating nerve condition triggered by a flu jab.

She also told the court her client had been abused as a child and had since been diagnosed with PTSD, and suggested those pressures “affected his decision making process”.

But Judge Anil Murray, sentencing, said: “I accept you were feeling stress in your life, however the decision to commit this robbery was your decision and yours alone.”

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector John Webster, of Merseyside Police, said: “It might be tempting to see the circumstances of this incident and see the funny side but to have a firearm pointed at you would have been an extremely distressing experience and has had a serious impact on the victim.

“The staff at the shop were thankfully unhurt but we are pleased that Perryman, clearly a dangerous man, has been removed from the streets for the foreseeable future.”