A man robbed a Coedpoeth Spar store with a syringe in his hand - moments after his bank card was declined.

Drug addict Luke Roberts, aged 26, of Newborough, Anglesey, had tried to buy bars of chocolate at the store at Coedpoeth, Wrexham.

Judge David Hale at Caernarfon crown court, where he admitted robbery and was jailed for 32 months, told him: "You have ruined your life by your addiction to drugs.”

The judge said: "After a difficult start, your grandparents have tried to do everything they could to steer you in the right direction.

"At the age of 26 you should be thinking about starting a family, improving your job, not starting your first long prison sentence.”

At 7.15am on April 17 he had used the syringe to get away, waving it in the face of a woman cashier.

Prosecutor Ryan Rothwell said Roberts had asked: "Do you want this?” CCTV showed him.

When Roberts was arrested he told police: "I’m sorry.”

Counsel added: "He said he was a drug addict and did it because he hadn’t eaten for days.”

Elen Owen, defending, said the heroin user from a respectable family had been in a rehab unit at Wrexham.

The judge said the cashier was “very stoic”.