iStockA teenage armed robber who took police on a 120mph chase after holding up a petrol station has been locked up for more than four years.
William MacLeod targeted the Esso Kessock garage in Inverness on May 9 this year.
The 19-year-old then made a getaway in vehicle he had stolen during a carjacking around 20 minutes earlier.
MacLeod had been drinking and also did not have a driving licence.
He was sentenced to a total of four years and two months at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, having earlier pleaded guilty to a number of charges in connection with the incidents.
MacLeod was also banned from the road by Judge Douglas Brown for a six years and two months.
The court heard how he had messaged a teenage woman at 8pm that night asking if she wanted to go for “a spin”, which she assumed was a run in a car.
He said he would travel to the 18-year-old’s home to collect her.
The vehicle that MacLeod ended up in was a Volvo he stole outside a Tesco branch in Inverness around an hour later.
A woman was sitting in the passenger seat as her husband went into the shop.
Prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel said: “MacLeod opened the driver’s door, bent down to look at her and aggressively stated: ‘Get out the car now’.”
She immediately leapt out as MacLeod got in and sped off.
At 9.53pm, MacLeod turned up at the petrol station to fill up the car.
As he walked to the counter appearing to pay, he told a worker: “Give me all your money. Open the till. I have a gun.”
He pulled out what looked like a black-coloured firearm.
The worker was said to be “scared for his life” as MacLeod snatched £130 in banknotes.
MacLeod then called his friend to say he would be with her in 15 minutes.
In the meantime, police had been alerted to the carjacking and robbery.
MacLeod was initially clocked driving north on the A9. He went on to collect the girl at her home.
Ms Dalziel said: “MacLeod then drove out a cul-de-sac mounting the kerb to get past a number of marked police vehicles which had congregated.”
He initially went at speeds of 62mph in a 20mph zone as officers went after him.
MacLeod was going so fast he had to brake hard at junctions.
He slowed down enough at one stage to allow the distressed girl to get out.
But, while going at no less than 95mph, MacLeod switched off the Volvo’s lights as police continued the pursuit.
Ms Dalziel said MacLeod put the beams back on and went on to take bends “at speeds in excess of 120mph”.
It was only when he reached a roundabout in Ardullie in Ross-shire that he lost control which allowed police to block him.
A test revealed MacLeod had 55mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22mg.
An imitation handgun used in the robbery was found in the footwell of the Volvo.
The weapon was capable of firing ball-bearing pellets.
The charges MacLeod pleaded guilty to included assault and robbery as well as dangerous and drink driving.
Euan Dow, defending, said the crimes were “a series of aberrations unlikely to be repeated”.
Sentencing, Judge Brown said others involved in the incidents were left badly affected.
The woman in the car-jacking “still feels the emotional impact on a daily basis”.
The judge added the teenager MacLeod picked up was left “crying in fear” and that it must have been “terrifying” for the petrol station victim.
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