A 25-YEAR-OLD York man has admitted robbing a store in the city, after he threatened a mother-of-three shop assistant with a broken bottle during the raid.

Speaking about the incident at Donaldson’s convenience store and off licence, in Lawrence Street, the employee, Paula Law, 40, said: “I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

John Graham O’Neill, of Melrosegate, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to robbing Ms Law of £280 in cash, cigarettes and a bottle of spirits.

The robbery, in which no one was injured, happened on the evening of January 21. Ms Law – who still works at the store – said: “I just couldn’t believe it happened. I mean you read about it, but you don’t expect it to happen to you.

“I was petrified, to be honest. I couldn’t believe anybody could make me feel like that. It was obviously a panic attack I was having.”

She said she was immediately fine after O’Neill had left the shop.

Ms Law, of Constantine Avenue, in Tang Hall, York, who has worked at the shop for almost two years, told The Press after O’Neill was arrested that she would have worked her next shift at the store after the raid even if he had still been at large.

“I’ve just got to get on with things,” she said.

The part-time shop worker thanked the police, the staff at Donaldson’s and the customers for everything they had done for her.

“The manager and the owner have just been absolutely outstanding,” she said. “The support they’ve given me has been absolutely fantastic.” Speaking after the robbery, Carol Fowkes, the manager of the store, said: “That he could make somebody feel like he has with Paula is beyond words.

“It’s despicable that anybody can do that to another human being.”

O’Neill, who did not apply for bail, has been remanded in custody as a pre-sentence report is prepared.