Robber terrified McDonald's restaurant staff and fought with taxi driver in knifepoint attacks in Leeds

Andrew Wagstaff was armed with a kitchen knife and had a pair of tights over his head when he burst into the McDonalds restaurant, on Killingbeck Drive, Leeds, in the early hours of December 31 last year.

Wagstaff walked up to a manager, threatened him with the weapon and said: "Get in to the office and give me all the money that you have."

The 34-year-old then helped himself to bags of coins from a safe and fled, leaving the knife behind.

Wagstaff was chased from the store.

A security guard threw a mop at him but the defendant managed to get away.

He dumped his hat and the pair of tights in a nearby industrial estate.

They were recovered by police and found to contain Wagstaff's DNA.

The manager provided a statement to the court in which he described how he had previously been a robbery victim.

He said: "How many times is this going to happen to me? How many times am I going to get away with it?"

The court heard he is now too afraid to work night shifts.

Wagstaff also tried to rob a taxi driver at knifepoint on Clifton Mount, Harehills, on December 15.

The driver was sent to collect a fare in the early hours of the morning and Wagstaff got into the car, threatened him with a knife and demanded money.

The two men struggled as Wagstaff tried to grab the keys to the ignition.

They both fell out of the car during the incident. The vehicle rolled down a hill and struck a parked car.

Andrew Walters, prosecuting, said the taxi driver feared his own car would roll over him.

Wagstaff, of St Hilda's Road, Cross Green, Leeds, fled empty handed but was linked to the offence as his mobile phone had been used to call the taxi.

He pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery and two offences of possession of a bladed article.

Wagstaff has a long history of offending, including serving a 70-month sentence for robbery and burglary offences.

Kenton Sargeant, mitigating, said the offences were committed to fund a long-standing drug addiction.

He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.