An armed robber who held a man at knifepoint and demanded he hand over more than £200 has been jailed for three years.
Anthony Heeps put the blade to the neck of a man who was waiting for a withdrawal at the cash machine in Old Aberdeen, the city’s sheriff court heard.
The man had been taking out £245 when Heeps, 34, turned on him at around 12.45am on March 28 this year.
He promptly handed over the cash after Heeps held a 7cm knife to the front of his neck.
‘Give me the money’
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson said the incident happened at a cash machine near the Aberdeen University Hub on Elphinstone Road.
“While waiting for the money the man behind him put an arm around his neck and pushed a blade against the front of his neck,” she said.
“He said ‘give me the money’ and demanded he hand over the withdrawal.”
The incident was captured on CCTV.
Defence agent Laura Gracey said Heeps, imprisoned at Peterhead since April, had been fuelled by street valium at the time and that the complainer was known to him as the pair had agreed to meet at the site.
In the grip of addiction
She said: “He tells me he had struggled with an addiction to heroin and crack cocaine for around 20 years or so.
“He tells me that more recently he started to use valium and usage of that coincides with the timings of these offences.”
She said Heeps was under the influence of street valium at the time of the ATM robbery.
“He doesn’t remember what caused the difficulty or how matters escalated,” the solicitor added.
“He didn’t go there with the intention or any of this happening but accepts it was him.”
Heeps, who appeared from HMP Grampian via video link, admitted a charge of assault and robbery as well as further charges of theft, theft by shoplifting and possession of a push dagger.
The court heard how Heeps stole alcohol worth £489 from the Coop in Newmachar on September 14 last year.
This, his defence said, was to pay for his drug debts.
The similar theft of a woman’s purse from within a car on September 8 2021 was also put down to a need for money to fund his addiction.
Heeps, a prisoner at HMP Grampian in Peterhead, was handed a 36-month custodial sentence backdated to his remand date of April 2022.
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