A drug addict has been jailed after he held his own mother at gunpoint and forced her to be his getaway driver in an armed robbery at a pharmacy.
Adam Marriott, 32, held up the chemist telling staff he would “blow your brains out” if they refused to hand over boxes of drugs which he later took in a botched suicide bid.
After forcing his mother to drive him to several locations, she pulled up outside the Well Street Late Night Pharmacy in Biddulph, Staffs., on June 8.
His mother – who had followed him inside – mouthed the words “call the police” to a female member of staff, who pressed an alarm button.
Marriott told the staff member he would “blow your brains out” and forced her to hand over six to eight boxes of diazepam and the powerful opiate-based painkiller dihydrocodeine.
He fled on foot and discarded the gun near the scene. Police dashed to the store and questioned his mother.
Hours later they found Marriott unconscious and not breathing at a friend’s flat after he swallowed the drugs in a suicide bid.
Officers from Staffordshire Police carried out CPR and managed to revive him before an ambulance arrived and rushed him to hospital.
On Thursday (5/11), Marriott was jailed for 28 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court he admitted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.
Judge Paul Glenn said: “There was some planning here. You had been there ten or 15 minutes before and you were wearing a hooded top and sunglasses. But it was far from sophisticated.
“You were arrested soon afterwards and had already taken a significant number of tablets.
“I accept the motive was to obtain drugs to take an overdose, and you did just that.
“The police gave you immediate emergency assistance and may very well have saved your life. I commend them for their actions.”
David Iles, prosecuting, said: “He reached into his pocket and said he had a gun and he was willing to use it.
“The pharmacist was in fear and decided to comply with the request.
“The defendant’s mother mouthed to a member of staff, ‘Call the police’.
“The member of staff pressed the alarm button. The defendant said to her, ‘Don’t do anything or I will blow your brains out’.”
The court heard Marriott has a string of convictions stretching back 15 years and is a long-term abuser of drugs and alcohol.
Anis Ali, defending, said: “When he did what he did, it was his intention to end his own life.
“He has experienced family difficulties and that affected him and his mood.
“He saw no way out and couldn’t turn to anyone. At the very least this was a cry for help.”
