TWO teenage thugs who robbed a Cheltenham shop and attacked a pregnant woman have each been jailed for three years.

Store assistant Amanda Burgess was confronted by the pair at Bargain Booze, in Coronation Square, on February 27.

When she pleaded with one of them to stop kicking her in the thigh he responded by aiming a kick directly at her stomach, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

The same youth, Jai Jamieson, 18, also held a meat cleaver to her throat during the £4,000 robbery.

Jamieson, of Cleevemount Road, Pittville, admitted robbery and having an offensive weapon and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Joshua Walsh, 17, of Sotherby Walk, Cheltenham, had denied both charges but was convicted by a jury.

He was also sentenced to three years' detention.

Recorder David Patterson accepted a press submission that Walsh should be "named and shamed".

He lifted the normal restriction which guarantees the anonymity of children aged 17 and under.

The recorder said he agreed it would be in the public interest for Walsh's identity to be known.

Prosecutor David Maunder said Ms Burgess was alone in the shop at 9pm when Jamieson and Walsh burst in wearing black clothes and with their faces partly covered.

Mr Maunder said that, despite the disguises, both teenagers were recognised by Ms Burgess because they were regulars in the shop.

"She initially thought this was a joke and she started to laugh," Mr Maunder said. "But Jamieson continued to shout at her, telling her to open the till.

"He reached across the counter and grabbed her hair. He had a meat cleaver in his hand, which he was waving in the air.

"She immediately realised it was not a joke after all as he jumped over the counter and was pulling at the till, demanding she open it.

"She said she did not know how to. At that time the scarf he was wearing fell from his face revealing most of his face including a distinctive mark by his left eye.

"Walsh was banging the till and told her she was a liar for saying she couldn't open it. Jamieson was kicking her in the thigh area and she pleaded to his sense of humanity by asking him to stop as she was pregnant.

"His response to that was indeed to stop kicking her in the thigh – and instead to kick her in the stomach."

He said the kick landed in her hip area and then Jamieson put the cleaver to her neck and told her again to open the till.

"He then picked up a heavy case of beer and threw it at her, hitting her on the arm," Mr Maunder said.

"Both men left the shop and she pressed the panic alarm and sat and waited for the police to arrive."

Jamieson was arrested on February 28 and Walsh on March 3 as a result of Ms Burgess being able to identify them.

Mr Maunder said Jamieson had convictions for dishonesty on numerous occasions and a non dwelling house burglary from 2008.

Walsh had a lesser criminal record for offences of public disorder and handling stolen goods.

Jon Holmes, defending, said the offences were totally out of character. He said Jamieson was driven by drug debt and committed the offence because of the pressure he was under and Walsh went along to assist him.

Mr Holmes said Jamieson was "horrified" by his own actions when he saw CCTV of his violence against Ms Burgess.

For Walsh, James Burns pointed out that his client played a much less serious role and was not directly violent to Ms Burgess.

Sentencing the two, Recorder Patterson said Jamieson's sentence would have been longer if he had not been given full credit for his early guilty pleas.

Walsh was not entitled to any reduction because he had contested the case at trial.

"It must have been a terrifying experience for the shop assistant," he said.