Schoolboy robbed three banks in Oldbury

The teenager got away more than £2,500 from TSB and Barclays.

He targeted the same cashier on two occasions, who was left petrified by the robberies.

His crime spree was only halted when his father spotted his face on a police appeal on Facebook.

The three robberies were carried out in the space of just two weeks as the troubled boy sought to feed his heroin habit. A district judge at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court said he believed he would have continued to target banks had his father not called the police.

The boy, from Tividale, who cannot be named because of his age, walked into TSB on Birmingham Street on February 28 wearing a baseball cap and with his hood pulled up.

He approached the counter and passed a note to cashier ordering her to give him money as he had a gun.

The teenager robber also stood menacingly with a hand in his pocket, leading frightened workers to believe he really did have a weapon, when in reality he didn't.

The woman pressed her panic alarm and put £840 into a bag. She believed her ordeal was over – only for him to return 10 days later.

He went back to the same cashier and this time managed to get away with £1,240.

Six days later, on March 15, he went into Barclays, round the corner in Church Square, where he pulled the same trick, passing the note to the female cashier warning he had a gun, and escaped with another sackful of cash, this time £450.

The cashier, a mother-of-two, said the robberies had made her doubt whether she wanted to continue in her job.

A victim impact statement read to the court said: "This incident for the first time made me fear my job.

"It made me scared for myself and my family. I don't want anything to stop me from going home to my two girls."

The youth, who pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery at a previous hearing, broke down in tears as he was taken down by security offices in the court after being sentenced to two years detention.

District Judge Michael Wheeler said he was not prepared let the boy off without a custodial sentence as his crimes were so serious.

He told him: "You didn't rob someone of the same age for their mobile phone or take a few quid from the till – these are bank robberies.

"The cashier has two young children and she was petrified. She didn't give you money because you asked nicely, she did it because she thought you had a gun."

Mr Frank Callier, defending, said: "He is a vulnerable young man with difficulties.

"Youngsters do not always appreciate the impact on their behaviour and do not always think about the consequences for the victim."