A MAN who used a gun to rob a mother and daughter working in a Bolton wine shop has been jailed for seven years.

Stephen Field subjected Christina Harrison and 17 year-old Jody to two minutes of terror when he demanded cash.

Field and a second man both wearing scarves over their faces and baseball caps, rushed into Victoria Wine on Bury Road, Bolton, where owner Mrs Harrison was locking up.

As his accomplice forced the teenager to kneel on the floor behind the counter Field pointed the gun at Mrs Harrison and demanded money.

Terrified, Mrs Harrison handed over around £100 in cash from the till but the robbers demanded she opened the safe and took a further £300.

The pair escaped with £400 but the incident was captured on CCTV. Judge Brian Carter QC said he had to pass a sentence that would act as deterrent to others and to protect vulnerable women working in shops. He told Field: "The women had no idea of whether the gun you had was real or not and at the time you didn't care."

Field, aged 26, of Milnthorpe Road, Breightmet, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence. He admitted robbery. A 16-year-old youth, alleged to have been involved in the robbery, has not surrendered to bail and is being sought.

Prosecutor Jonathan Dickinson said that Mrs Harrison and her daughter were locking up on August 31 last year when two men burst in. Field pointed the gun at Mrs Harrison and demanded cash. When police arrested Field and another man, at a flat in Goldrill Avenue, Bolton, they found a cocked blank firing revolver containing four cartridges and a box of cartridges along with 50 more cartridges in a BMW.

Keith Harrison, defending, said Field who had alcohol and drugs problems and under pressure to repay a £5,000 debt, had expressed remorse and had written a letter of apology to the two women.

Field then forced Mrs Harrison at gunpoint to open the safe and she handed more than £300 begging the robbers not to hurt either her or her daughter.