Luke Jackson denies robbery at Costcutter in Dringhouses

A MASKED knifeman allegedly robbed a convenience store after confronting a man and his young son in the street.

Luke David Jackson, 28, was the man who jumped onto the counter of Costcutter in Wains Grove, Dringhouses, at 9.50am on  Sunday, August 6, claimed John Hobley, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

The robber had just told the shop assistant behind the counter “open the till, open the till, open the till”, the jury was told.

He was wearing a black bandeau covering his face and a baseball cap, said Mr Hobley.

In CCTV video of the incident, shown to the jury, a voice can be heard saying to the shop assistant: “Stay there, don’t move”, "don’t f…. move” and “I’m sorry”.

Mr Hobley said that shortly before that incident, a masked cyclist had confronted a man and his young son in Front Street, Acomb, with a knife in his hand.

“The prosecution say this too was the defendant Luke Jackson," said Mr Hobley as he opened the prosecution.

In his statement, which was read to the jury, the father said he had come out of Farm Foods with his 12-year-old son and was walking west along Front Street at 9.38 am on August 6. The cyclist had followed them, and the son had been afraid.

The court heard the cyclist had said: “You don’t know what is going to happen, I am going to rob you and I am going to take all your cash.”

The father said he had not responded because he didn’t want to start an incident.

Outside the You Know Who shop, the cyclist had blocked their way and pulled out a 10-inch knife, it was alleged.

“I believe his intention was to cause us fear,” the father’s statement said.

The father and son had been about 35 to 40 feet away and had managed to get away. Outside Ladbrokes the father had phoned police.

Mr Hobley alleged both the cyclist and the shop robber were wearing similar dark coloured baseball caps and similar jackets and had a black coloured bandeau covering their faces.

Jackson, of Jute Road, Acomb, denies robbery and carrying a knife in public.

Mr Hobley said Jackson does not dispute that the robbery took place, but denies that he was the robber or the masked cyclist.

In a statement read to the jury, the shop assistant said that the robber was bigger and stronger than him and that he wouldn’t have been able to resist him.

The robber had ordered him to put coins from the till in his hand and he had done so. The robber had grabbed notes himself from the till.

At the end of the robbery, the robber had said he needed a drink and stole a bottle of Jagermeister. A till check revealed he had taken £208.

A former girlfriend of Jackson said she saw a Facebook post by North Yorkshire Police asking the public to identify a still from a CCTV of a cyclist police suspected of carrying out the store robbery.

She claimed she knew it was Jackson and said that she had known him for many years.

She also alleged he always had a knife with him and that she had regularly seen him wearing a black snood over his face.

Defence barrister Holly Clegg alleged the CCTV still was so blurred the girlfriend couldn’t be sure it was Jackson and that many people wore face masks following the Covid pandemic.

The girlfriend agreed that Jackson had told her he always carried a knife at a time when he was homeless after the robbery.

The trial continues.