Men jailed for bookmakers robbery

Brown and McCusker are already serving five-year terms

Two men who held a customer hostage at knifepoint during an armed raid on a bookmakers in North Lanarkshire have been jailed for 10-and-a-half years.

Alan Brown, 20, and Kyle McCusker, 21, were found guilty of robbing the Coral Bookmakers in Newarthill of £677 in May last year.

They are already serving five years in a young offenders institute for an armed robbery weeks after the offence.

The sentences on both men, who are from Motherwell, will run consecutively.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how Brown and McCusker entered the bookmakers wearing masks.

They held a knife at a customer's neck, threatened him and ordered staff to open the safe.

McCusker committed the offence while on bail.

Temporary judge Rita Rae QC ordered Brown to be detained for five years and McCusker for five years and six months.

Sentencing both, she said: "You held an innocent member of the public with a knife at his neck to force the staff to hand over money to you.

"It was a particularly nasty and serious robbery. It was you Brown who was holding the knife, but I see no reason to differentiate between you.

"I will give you McCusker an extra six months because you were on bail at the time."