A man who threatened to stab attendants at two Newcastle convenience stores unless they handed over $300 spent almost an hour-and-a-half at a popular nearby pub using the cash he stole to pay for lunch and grog.
Jonathan Luke Hedley, 37, pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday to attempted robbery while armed with an offensive weapon and robbery while armed with an offensive weapon.
According to a statement of agreed facts, Hedley pulled a knife - with a 13cm-long blade - from his hoodie pocket after he walked into the Nova 24 Seven convenience store just after 11.30am on April 23.
"Give me $300 or I will stab you," he repeatedly told the woman working behind the counter as he waved the knife in her direction.
The woman refused and told him to leave the store several times, before he eventually did so empty-handed.
Court documents said the encounter was captured on CCTV and Hedley made no attempt to disguise himself and touched the counter with bare hands - leaving fingerprints.
Hedley then walked east through the Hunter Street Mall and went into My Local Store - another convenience outlet - where he threatened to stab the man who was working there unless he handed over $300.
"Are you pranking me?" the man asked Hedley before he handed him six $50 notes from the cash register.
Hedley then made for Customs House, only a few hundred metres away, and used the money to buy food and drinks over about 80 minutes.
Patrolling police soon spotted him wandering along Wharf Road. They arrested him after a brief foot chase.
When charging Hedley over the hold-ups, he also had a larceny count levelled at him for brazenly walking out of the BWS liquor store at Kotara with two six packs of Tooheys New - which he had not paid for - last year.
He will face Newcastle District Court on December 14 to get a sentence date.
