A ROBBER who posed as a customer to raid five stores was caught each time on security cameras, a court was told yesterday.

The raider, who did not wear a mask, was armed with a knife and left female assistants terrified as he snatched bundles of notes from tills.

Twice he escaped in a stolen car and another time on a mountain bike.

Teesside Crown Court was told that a detective who studied the security camera footage recognised the robber as Garry Pattison.

Christopher Attwooll, prosecuting, told the jury that a white mountain bike, with a knife strapped to it, was found at Mr Pattison's home, along with a baseball cap which matched the robber's description.

His finger prints were also found on a drinks carton left by the raider in one of the stores, said Mr Attwooll.

After he was arrested, Mr Pattison exercised his right to silence, but an assistant from one of the stores and the detective both picked him out during an identification parade, the court heard.

Pattison, 25, of Scurfield Road, Stockton, denies robbing the Spar shop at Haughton, near Darlington, of £430, a Right Choice store in North Road, Darlington, of £230, a Bells store in Shannon Crescent, Stockton, of £90, a Spar store, in Orchard Shops, Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, of £70, and an attempted robbery at the Co-op in Roseworth, Stockton, during July last year.

The trial continues.