Employee caught twice in armed robberies on separate shops

Paul Telford and a co-accused, who has already been jailed, targeted two separate branches of Thomas Cook in the city last year, armed with knifes.

The first targeted the Upper Lisburn Road branch, and another in Forestside. In all they stole £12,000 in assorted currencies

One female employee was caught up in both incidents.

Telling Telford the “shock and awe” tactics they displayed would have been “frightening and intimidating” for the staff, Judge David McFarland today told Telford, from Christine Drive in the Mossley area of Newtownabbey, he will spend four-and-a-half years in prison, followed by the same period on licence.