Uddingston thug robbed petrol station at knifepoint

Dec 3 2009

A THUG who robbed a petrol station at knifepoint tried to disguise himself by wearing sunglasses, a court was told yesterday (Wed).

But police who viewed CCTV footage of the raid recognised 24-year-old Matthew Clark, from Uddingston, who was out on licence for a similar crime.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Clark walked into the Viewpark Service Station in Old Edinburgh Road, Uddingston, at 10pm on September 29 wearing sunglasses.

Without any warning, Clark walked behind the counter, held a knife at employee Darren Gemmell and shouted: “Gie's the money from the f****** till.”

Prosecutor Hugh Irwin said: Mr Gemmell opened the till and the accused leaned over, grabbing about £200 worth of notes.

The accused then told Mr Gemmell: ‘Don’t phone the police. I know where you live.’

The court was told that when the CCTV footage of the raid was viewed Clark was identified as the robber.

When he was interviewed by police he initially claimed he had been in Glasgow city centre at the time, but later took police to woods where he had dumped the sunglasses, the jacket he was wearing and the knife.

Defence counsel Tony Graham said: “The background to this is the accused’s use of Valium. He has little recollection of what happened.”

Judge Lord Turnbull deferred sentence on Clark until next year for background reports and an assessment of the risk he poses to the public.