A MAN threatened to kill the wife and grandchildren of a Hardgate shopkeeper as he robbed him.

Thug Brian Robertson brandished a knife and warned the two shopkeepers at the Old Mill filling station on Glasgow Road to take his alcohol and cigarettes robbery seriously or they’d be harmed.

The 26-year-old appeared in the dock at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on February 13, where he admitted assaulting the duo, presenting a knife, striking a screen with the knife, uttering threats of violence and robbing them of alcohol and cigarettes, all while on bail, on December 5.

Fiscal depute Claire Nicholls told the court the incident began shortly after 5.20pm. Both shop workers where standing behind the counter when Robertson, listed in court papers as a prisoner in Greenock, approached them with a knife.

She continued: “[The accused stated] ‘you better take this seriously, this is a robbery’. He then demanded a quantity of cigarettes and alcohol.

“He was then seen by both employees to stab the top of the knife into the screen of the lottery machine.

“[The witness] handed him a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whisky and Smirnoff vodka and cigarettes.

“As [the witnesses] were handing over the items he stated ‘I’m going to find you and kill your wife and grandweans’.”

Robertson fled but was identified by a police officer who viewed the CCTV from the petrol station.

He was quickly traced to a friend’s address in Clydebank where he was discovered to be “heavily intoxicated” and in possession of a bottle of Jack Daniels, which was seized by police.

He was taken to police custody where he told officers: “I went to the Jet and told her to give me bevvy and she never done it, so I pulled the knife out and she gave me the bottle of Jack.”

Sheriff Simon Pender called for a criminal justice social work report and reports into a possible extended sentence or supervised release. Robertson will return to court on March 12 and will remain in custody until then.