TWO masked robbers who "terrorised" shop staff in a knifepoint raid have been jailed for 12 years each.

Shaun Holding and Ben Lee Simpson’s late night robbery left staff at the Spar shop on Clifton Green, York, so traumatised the effects are still haunting them two years later.

The elderly shop manager who was injured as he resisted the “partners in crime” as they tried to get into the shop safe is to get a £500 public reward, York Crown Court heard.

And Simpson’s former girlfriend told how she feared he was spiralling out of control and could kill someone because of the way he behaved after the raid on February 20, 2016.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, told Holding and Simpson that the shop staff "were terrorised” in the raid.

He said: “It is plain you were after high stakes. It should be clearly understood that late night stores provide a valuable public service within this city.

“Those who work there have the right to know they will be protected in as much as they can be by the courts.

“I have no doubt deterrent sentences are required.”

Holding, 33, of Clifton, and Simpson, 31, of Tang Hall, but who has lived most of his life in Clifton, both denied robbery, but were convicted at a trial.

The judge said Simpson had started thinking about the robbery days beforehand and the two “partners in crime” had planned it together.

They had watched the store at 7.30pm and when they realised that evening’s shift was an “elderly man and two young women” they decided to “chance their arm” at 10.30pm.

The judge praised the store manager, who has worked at the shop for nearly 30 years, saying “he behaved in an extremely brave fashion".

As the robbers, one of them with a knife, pushed him towards the store’s safe, the manager managed to grab the weapon and break its blade, sustaining a cut to his hand and an injury to his knee that took months to heal.

Foiled by the safe’s timelock, the robbers forced one of the women to open the till and grabbed money, cigarettes and scratch cards before fleeing, said the judge.

For Holding, who has 53 previous convictions, Peter Byrne said the business had not been severely affected because it was insured and belonged to a large chain.

Holding had family commitments. “These people will be left effectively in his wake dealing with the situation he has created,” he said.

For Simpson, who has 73 previous convictions, Ian Hudson said he too had family commitments. His previous crimes had been of a minor nature and for five years he had been out of trouble.