over raid

at garage

TWO men were last week jailed for robbing an assistant at a petrol station in Knutsford.

Adrian Lyttle, 28, was sentenced to eight years for the attack on the Esso garage in Toft Road more than five months ago.

His co-accused, Kevin Tomlinson, 35, was jailed for six years.

On Monday garage manager Ray Fisher said he was pleased at the verdicts.

Getaway

"It took a fairly long time to get to this," he said. "They will have virtually served six months since it actually happened."

The two men were arrested in August and taken to hospital after their getaway car crashed in Hall Lane, Mobberley.

They were thrown from the red Ford Escort as it landed on its roof.

The pair initially appeared for sentencing in November, but the case was adjourned after defence lawyers asked for Tomlinson's mental state to be assessed by psychiatrists at the Mary Dendy Unit in Mobberley.

At Chester Crown Court on Thursday, though, Lyttle, of Cumberley Close Wilmslow, and Tomlinson, of Colshaw Farm, Wilmslow, were both facing lengthy prison sentences.

"The sentences are reasonable and represent the seriousness of the offence," said Knutsford Sgt Kevin Fryer.

"It was a very frightening incident for the people involved and it was fortunate that nobody was injured."