A COCAINE addict claimed he heard voices telling him to carry out a robbery at a petrol filling station, a court heard.

George Henry Cairns was armed with a knife when he followed the lone attendant into the kiosk at the Esso station, in Sunderland Road, Gilesgate, Durham, shortly before 8pm on May 25.

Durham Crown Court heard the attendant had been putting out rubbish and returned to the serving area, where he was threatened by Cairns, who pointed the 8in-bladed knife through the hatch window demanding the till.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said the attendant tried to press the panic button, but in his fearful condition was unsure if it worked.

Cairns waved the knife aggressively and tried to gain access via the side of the booth, but the attendant desperately blocked his path.

“The attendant threw a bin at him and at that point, fortuitously, a taxi pulled up on the forecourt.

“It was pointed out to the defendant who ran away.”

Mr Dodds said the relieved cashier recognised Cairns as someone he had seen in the area.

Cairns was arrested by police two days later, sitting on a bench in nearby Frank Street.

He put his hands up and immediately told the officers: “I’ve been expecting you.”

Mr Dodds told the court: “He was fully co-operative, telling the officers he had ‘a big knife’.

"He said he was schizophrenic, and voices had been telling him to commit the robbery, as he needed money to fund his cocaine habit.”

The attendant told police he was “terrified” for his safety, and revealed there was only about £150 - £200 in the till, at the time.

He said it was the first time such an incident had taken place while working at the station, and although he remains in the job, he is now “really wary”, adding he did not want to face, “that bloke”, again.

Forty-five-year-old Cairns, of no fixed abode, admitted attempted robbery.

The court heard the “career burglar” has 37 convictions for 112 offences, but none previously for robbery.

Ros Scott Bell, mitigating, said Cairns, a paranoid schizophrenic, had never committed such an offence previously and wanted to apologise to the attendant.

“Clearly the offence was committed to obtain money for his addiction to drugs.”

Jailing him for two years and eight months, Judge Robert Adams said the probation report stated that while in custody since his arrest Cairns’ mental health has “stabilised”, and he accepted the offence was committed against a background of drug addiction.