Prolific armed robber hit Leeds Subway shop twice during desperate drug-addled spree
A desperate drug addict who hit the same Subway shop twice during an armed-robbery spree has had his jail sentence extended.
Peter Docherty was given an eight-year term in December 2024 for four robberies at a Shell garage, BP garage, a Nisa convenience store and the Subway shop on Low Road in Hunslet.
But he was not charged with the second robbery of the same Subway store because the DNA found was “not strong enough” to tie Docherty to the scene.
A match was eventually made and the 41-year-old later admitted the offence, along with possession of a bladed article.
He appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where a further 18 months was added to his eight-year sentence.
Docherty had walked into the Subway store at around 7.40pm on December 17, 2023.
He wore dark clothing and a face covering and appeared to have a piece of metal in each hand, one of which was a knife.
He approached the counter, pointed the knife at a member of staff and asked about the safe. He then said: “Give me money.”
Docherty walked through the staff barrier and used the knife to help him rip the till from the counter before walking out.
The knife was later found, along with the till that had been broken in half, on Whitfield Avenue - just a few hundred metres from the shop.
It was estimated that around £1,000 had been taken, prosecutor Beth Richardson told the court.
Although no victim impact statement was received, a statement from the franchise owner of the Subway store read: “My staff are being petrified.
“Even with security, there’s unlikely anything they could do if there’s an armed robbery.
“I feel nervous about what would happen.”
The court was told that Docherty, formerly of Gilbert Close, Kirkstall, has 33 convictions for 64 offences.
As well as the robbery spree, he was also jailed for 54 months in 2017 for an armed robbery at a convenience store.
Mitigating, Matthew Stewart said: “He had a drug addiction and went on those crime sprees to fund that addiction.”
He said that since being jailed, he was working with drug counsellors and was making progress.
Judge Kate Rayfield, who had jailed Docherty in December 2024, said she was required to take into account totality of the overall sentence that she would have passed, had the second Subway robbery been included in the December 2024 hearing.
She said it would have been around an additional two years, but with his guilty plea, brought it down to 18 months.