Man jailed for city armed raids

Murray pleaded guilty to the two armed robberies

A man who carried out armed robberies at two bookmakers in Glasgow has been jailed for five years.

Christopher Murray, 34, robbed a William Hill shop in Stockwell Street at knifepoint, in May.

In August he used an imitation gun in a rucksack when he held up staff at Ladbrokes on Dumbarton Road.

His lawyer said he faced "severe financial pressure" because he had moved house to keep his teenage daughter out of trouble.

Murray admitted the robberies at the High Court in Edinburgh.

In the William Hill raid he escaped with £628 after shutting two employees in the toilet and telling them: "Don't come out for five minutes."

In the second raid, in August, Murray told staff in the Ladbrokes shop: "This a robbery. Get down on the floor."

He fled with £3, 600, leaving employees shut in a kitchen.

'Financial pressure'

Solicitor advocate Liam Ewing told the court Murray had been under "severe financial pressure" as a result of moving house a couple of times to try to keep his daughter away from bad company.

Jailing him, judge Lord Menzies noted that Murray had never been in any similar trouble but had pleaded guilty to two serious offences.

He said: "Both must have been extremely frightening for members of staff concerned."