A WHITEHAVEN man has pleaded guilty to attempting to rob a shop worker.

Carlisle Crown Court was told that Mark Clark, 49, had just been released from a prison sentence shortly before he attempted to rob a worker at the Premier store in Woodhouse Road, Whitehaven.

He committed the frightening offence on July 6.

Though no details of the failed robbery were outlined during a brief video link hearing, the court heard that Clark, of George Street, Whitehaven, claimed to be armed with a knife during the attempt to rob a female shop worker.

As he dealt with the case, Recorder Philip Grundy commented that the victim of the attempted robbery – named in the charge as Tracey Ball – had been “resolute and stoical” as she coped with her ordeal.

The judge added of the defendant: “He hadn’t been out of prison for long at the time of this offence.

"Being on licence is an aggravating factor.”

Recorder Grundy said that a prison term was the starting point for the likely sentence that would be imposed on Clark but he accepted a request from defence barrister Brendan Burke for a background report on the defendant.

“It would be directed at the length [of the sentence] rather than anything else,” remarked the judge.

As he remanded the defendant in custody, Recorder Grundy told the defendant: “There is going to be a pre-sentence report so that the sentencing judge knows as much about you as possible and the circumstances which gave rise to this offence.”

The judge set the date for sentencing as September 1. Clark will remain remanded in custody until that day, when he will be put before the crown court again for sentence.

In April, Clark was jailed for 126 days after he admitted three breaches of a court order, breaching coronavirus restrictions and failing to surrender to custody.

He breached a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) on a number of occasions, initially by going into Whitehaven's Wilko store on March 4 and then later by being present in St Nicholas’ Gardens in Whitehaven, which the order specifically prohibited.

He breached his court order a third time on April 13 by being in Queen Street and covid restrictions by drinking intoxicants in the gardens.