Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Armed robber staged raids after taking ‘legal high’

Ewan hardie
Ewan hardie

An armed robber who staged two terror raids within days of his early release from prison after taking “legal high” drugs was jailed for four years and three months yesterday.

Ewan Hardie pointed a knife at his first victim and demanded she open a till at a convenience store in Peterhead, before getting away with £1,300.

The following day the 42-year-old struck again at a post office in Aberdeenshire, where he claimed he had a gun and escaped with £970.

Hardie offered residents in the village of Newburgh cash to drive him to Turriff, but was turned down.

He was detained by police responding to a 999 call.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Hardie, described as a prisoner in Peterhead, admitted assaulting and robbing employee Ela Kadlubowska at Micro Movies, in Chapel Street, Peterhead, on February 2.

Advocate depute Murdoch MacTaggart said Ms Kadlubowska was alone in the store when Hardie, who had his face covered, repeatedly ordered her to open the till while pointing a knife at her.

He also admitted assaulting and robbing the owner of Newburgh Post Office, Laura Adams, on February 3 while carrying a piece of wood and claiming to be armed with a gun.

The court heard Ms Adams was working alone behind the counter and had just finished serving a woman who had a young child with her when Hardie barged in.

The customer heard him shout “I’ve got a gun”, before he kicked a hole in a door through to the area behind the till and crawled through to get money from a cash drawer then fled.

The advocate depute said: “Both ladies and the child were frightened and distressed from what they had observed.”

Lady Scott said she would have jailed him for six and a half years for the latest offences, but for his early guilty plea.

“This was a stupid, desperate and dangerous course of conduct,” she said.

She also ordered that he be kept under supervision for a further three years.

The court heard that Hardie, who was living in homeless accommodation, had a significant criminal record and had been jailed for 16 months for assault and housebreaking before he was released on licence on January 21 this year.

Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said that in the period leading up to the offences Hardie had taken “legal highs”.