Blood-soaked Leeds thug emptied Starbucks' tills after telling staff: 'Brother, this is a robbery'
Violent criminal was on bails for vicious weapons attacks
A terrifying thug covered in blood demanded money after bursting into a coffee shop, before emptying the tills and fleeing.
Marcus Sherriff got away with just £100 in notes and change from the Starbucks, having told workers that he had a knife on him.
The 27-year-old was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today, pleading guilty to the robbery and two separate violent incidents in which he slashed a man with a knife and threw a drinks glass at a man in a pub.
The court heard that Sherriff had walked into the Starbucks on Armley Road at 7.40am on December 18 last year.
He approached a worker and told them: “Brother, this is a robbery.”
The worker thought it was a joke at first, but realised he was serious after noticing the blood on him.
He then said: “Show me the cash” and “don’t make me pull out the blade”, hinting he had a knife while keeping a hand in his pocket.
After being told he could not access the safe, he took £100 from the two tills and fled, but told one customer on his way out that his “kids were starving”.
However, Sherriff left blood behind which forensically linked him to the scene. He was arrested three days later after causing a nuisance of himself on the roof of a property on Spring Street in Leeds.
A cherry picker had to be used by firefighters to bring him down. He was arrested and during his interview said he had no memory of the robbery and suffered from psychosis.
The court heard that he had been previously arrested for slashing a man with a Stanley knife at an organised rave in Leeds on March 14 last year.
Having bumped into a man, he pulled out the knife and swiped it across the man’s neck. Luckily, the victim only suffered a superficial wound.
He was identified by CCTV, but he initially denied being responsible.
Having been bailed, he then threw a glass at a man in the King on the Lane pub on Moor Allerton Drive in Leeds the day before the robbery.
After being asked to leave for being aggressive, a friend of Sherriff’s hurled a drink over a member of staff before Sherriff launched the glass at the head of a man. It shattered on impact, causing four lacerations to the man’s face.
After being ejected, they continued to throw glasses at the pub’s windows.
The victim had to have glass removed from his face in hospital.
Sherriff, of Poplar Way, Bramley, appeared in court today over a video link from HMP Leeds where he was being held on remand.
He admitted robbery, possession of a knife, ABH and Section 20 GBH.
Mitigating, James Holding said that surprisingly, Sherriff was “polite and courteous” and that it was “difficult to reconcile” his behaviour with the man who had committed the violent crimes.
He added: “The catalyst is obvious. He is a completely different person when under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
He said that Sherriff had a difficult upbringing and had been “introduced to drugs at an early age”.
Judge Simon Batiste jailed him for a total of 48 months and told him: “Unless you address you drug and alcohol problem, you do pose a serious threat of harm.”