Man jailed over knife raids

Germaine Alcide cut one of his victims during the attacks

A man who held a kitchen knife to two women's throats in separate post office raids has been jailed for 12-and-a-half years.

Germaine Alcide, 22, from Lozells in Birmingham, made off with £4,000 from each of the robberies, which were carried out in the Bartley Green and Harborne areas of the city last year.

One of the women, 63-year-old Margaret Walton, was cut on the neck during the Harborne raid.

Sentencing Alcide at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, the judge said he had never come across a worse case of robbery.

The 22-year-old had made no attempt to disguise himself when he carried out the raids, and was tracked down as a result of CCTV footage shown on television.

I thought, God, he's going to kill me Margaret Walton

Mrs Walton, who gave evidence against Alcide in court, said she thought she was going to die during the robbery.

"I just thought, God, he's going to kill me.

"I thought my kids are going to lose their dad as well as their mum - they'd already lost their dad just two months before."

Mrs Walton added that she had been determined to testify against Alcide.

"It was very hard, but I thought, well the only way you can do it is by giving evidence, you know, giving all the help you can to catch the person."

Detective Constable Danny Aimes said: "Obviously he had no reservations about using as much violence as possible.

"He didn't care whether Margaret collapsed and died in the post office at the time.

"It wouldn't have made a difference to him"