A man threatened to stab a woman unless she handed over money, a court heard. Normunds Aploks, 33, approached the woman outside a post office in Exeter Road, Millfield, on the morning of 28 June and asked her for some money for food as she was withdrawing cash.
When she refused, he brandished a knife and threatened to stab her if she didn’t hand over money, but the woman fled inside the post office where police were called.
A week later on 5 July, Aploks entered Tesco Express in Oundle Road, Woodston, at about 6.40am and concealed a box of 20 KitKats in his hoodie.
When spotted by a member of staff, she confronted him and retrieved the chocolate, but Aploks pulled a knife from his trousers pocket and brandished it at the woman before leaving the shop.
About 15 minutes later he returned to the store and stole a box of pumpkin seeds and ran off towards London Road.
Aploks, of Granville Street, Eastfield, was arrested by detectives from the force’s Acquisitive Crime Team in the city centre the following day after being identified through CCTV footage and spotted in Bridge Street.
He appeared at Peterborough Crown Court Monday where he was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted robbery, threatening a person with a knife, possession of a knife in a public place and two counts of theft from a shop.
DC George Corney, who investigated, said: “For someone to make the conscious decision to carry a weapon, namely a knife, and use it to intimidate members of the public is completely unacceptable.
“Thanks to our CCTV operators, we were able to identify and arrest Aploks and put him before the courts where he will now spend the next few years in prison.”
The sentence comes as the force takes part in Operation Calibre – a national campaign to tackle robbery across the country.
The month-long national operation sees a week of action running from Monday, 20 November, in Cambridgeshire and sees police intensifying their efforts across hotspot areas to target habitual offenders and take them off the streets.
The constabulary is also offering crime prevention advice to help keep people and their belongings safe when they are out and about.
Anyone with information or concerns about someone who carries a weapon can report via our dedicated knife information webpage.
