A GUN-wielding robber who stole cash from an Adlington shop has been jailed.

George Montgomery, aged 57, of Bickershaw Lane, Wigan, was jailed for six years and eight months after pleading guilty to the robbery at Preston Crown Court.

The incident happened at the Co-op in Bolton Road, Adlington, on October 10 last year when, shortly before 6am, Montgomery entered the shop through a rear shutter door.

He then threatened the shop manager with a handgun and told him to pull the shutters down, before forcing him to go into an office with his colleague.

They were then ordered to open the safe and put the contents, about £650 in coins, into a bag.

Montgomery then cut the shop’s telephone cable with a knife and told the frightened staff members to lie down, before escaping in a Ford Transit van.

A week later, on October 17, the 57-year-old was arrested after police stopped him in the same van and found the bag that was used in the robbery, with about £400 in coins inside.

They then searched his house and found an imitation firearm and a balaclava that are thought to have been used in the same incident.

Montgomery denied the robbery at first, claiming that he had found the bag of money, gun and balaclava in a street.

Det Con Phil Hampson said: “This was a planned and calculated robbery that saw two innocent members of the public held at gunpoint by a Montgomery, who was wearing a balaclava.

“The sentence given reflects the severity of this frightening ordeal that they were put through and I hope that it can bring them some closure.”