A CHELMSFORD criminal has been jailed for two years and eight months after admitting robbery.

Officers responded to reports of a robbery at a restaurant in Chelmsford shortly before midnight on May 9, after a man entered a restaurant on High Street, threatened a member of staff with a knife and demanded cash from the till.

The staff member managed to get away and the man took the till which contained hundreds of pounds.

Officers found a man at a taxi rank on Springfield Road matching the description provided by the victim and arrested him on suspicion of robbery.

Darren Connolly of Rumsey Fields was sentenced to prison for robbery and a further six months to run concurrently, for possessing a knife in a public place.