Machete wielding thug jailed

Jailed: Lee Shelley.

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A Middleton man has been jailed for three and a half years following the armed robbery of a Post Office to pay off his drug debts.

Lee Shelley, 20, of Barleyfield Walk, robbed the Post Office on Wood Street in Middleton, at 10am on 17 February.

An elderly man, who had been shopping in the post office, was left terrified after Shelley burst into the shop wielding a machete above his head and demanded cash.

He smacked the weapon against the glass screen and then turned his attention to the till, which he lifted up and dropped onto the floor in an attempt to prise it open.

He fled with £45 from the till.

Shelley confessed to the armed robbery two days later at Middleton Police Station.

Detective Constable Ben Harris, of Rochdale CID, said: "Shelley was clearly a desperate man who felt he had no other option but to pick up a machete and commit a robbery in order to pay off his drug debts.

"It should serve as a stark warning to people who get involved in drugs that it is not just harm to your body you are risking - addiction to drugs can lead to committing other serious crimes and time behind bars.”

He added: "Whatever his motive, there is no excuse for waving a machete around a Post Office and the elderly customer was absolutely petrified. If Shelley had gone too far, this man could have been seriously injured but thankfully it did not come to that."

The sentences of three and a half years for robbery and 12 months for possession of a bladed article in a public place will run concurrently.