A PETROL station manager was robbed of more than £20,000 in takings as he delivered it to the bank.

Jabir Pochiya and his colleague Irfan Moosa were targeted as they took the cash to the TSB bank in Tuebrook.

They had been spotted cashing up at the BP garage on Queen's Drive and followed. CCTV cameras captured the incident as Steven Casey, 20, and two accomplices pounced on Mr Pochiya, who was carrying the rucksack containing the money. Casey, of Barnfield Drive, West Derby, tried to wrestle the bag from him. Even after Mr Pochiya got into the bank, the group followed. Inside, the relief manager only released the bag when he thought one of Casey's accomplices made a gun motion and warned: "Get back or I'll shoot".

The group fled with the money and were driven away by Aaron Johnson, 21. But CCTV cameras followed the group to JJB in Speke.

Casey was sent to a Young Offenders' Institute for 32 months. But the judge spared Johnson, of Eaton Road, West Derby, suspending a 52-week prison sentence for two years and ordering him to 200 hours’ unpaid work, after learning he had been unaware of the group's plot until after they returned to his car.