A WREXHAM councillor had a screwdriver held to his neck by a raider who targeted his family garage, a court heard.

Stewart Clarke carried out the terrifying raid at Brynteg Garage in Glyndyfrdwy where Cllr Paul Blackwell was working on Sunday, May 26 this year.

After using the weapon to threaten the councillor who was serving on the forecourt kiosk alongside the A5, the robber wrenched out the till and made off with up to £400 in takings.

Clarke - who was on a two-year suspended sentence - was traced via his getaway car to Holt Lodge Hotel on the outskirts of Wrexham where he was holed up and arrested.

Jailing him for three years eight months, Judge Niclas Parry told him: “Businesses like this are easy targets and will be protected as they form part of community life.

“You carried a weapon into the store and put it against your victim’s neck.

“This is aggravated by the fact that you were on a suspended sentence for drug matters.”

Prosecutor Anna Price said Clarke drove up on the forecourt of the garage with a woman passenger and took a chocolate bar to pay for.

“He (Mr Blackwell) was scared and shocked as to what the defendant might do. He said “Okay take the till”.

Mold Crown Court heard that Clarke was in breach of his suspended sentence after failing to attend probation appointments.

He appeared at the court on May 7 where he was given a month to comply with the order. It required him to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and undergo 20 rehabilitation activity sessions and was imposed after he was convicted of possessing cocaine and a psychoactive substance with the intent to supply.

After hearing how he had sole care of his two children, Clarke escaped custody then, but his failure to attend further appointments during the last month put him in breach of the order.

Defence barrister Andrew Green said that Clarke’s life had “descended rapidly into chaos” after he started using drugs again.

“He knows the activation of the suspended sentence is inevitable.”

Clarke, 29, of Crispin Lane, Wrexham pleaded guilty to robbery and admitted the breach of the suspended sentence order.