A knife-wielding robber has been sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institute following a cannabis, cocaine and alcohol-fuelled "rampage".

Louis Rennoldson, 20, robbed tobacco from the Croxley Village Minimart in Watford Road, on January 22. He was sentenced at St Albans Magistrates’ Court yesterday, for possessing a knife, criminal damage and robbery.

Prosecutor Matthew Turner said that at 6.45am on January 22, Rennoldson, of Bateman Road, attended a house in Cavendish Court, where he believed a former girlfriend was staying.

Around ten minutes later, he was seen holding a knife in the back garden of a house in Watford Road and the homeowner said he had cut himself.

Shortly after, he walked down the street, stopping to argue with two drivers before heading into the minimart.

After the shopkeeper, Thamjarajah Pratheepan, denied Rennoldson cigarettes on credit, he was threatened with a knife.

CCTV showed that after Mr Pratheepan fled the shop, Rennoldson went behind the counter and took packets of tobacco and left.

READ MORE: Dramatic moment shopkeeper confronts knife-wielding thug who stormed his shop demanding cigarettes

Speaking to the Observer in January, Mr Pratheepan said: “I was scared – the knife was very big, and he was a big, strong guy.

“I tried to back away from him and get out of the store. I knew I needed to be able to get outside to be OK.”

After Rennoldson left the shop, he gave a pack of tobacco to a man on narrowboat who helped him with directions. He wanted to get Manchester to see his father, even though he lived with him in Croxley Green.

He then walked on and dropped the knife and was later arrested by police.

Rennoldson’s father subsequently apologised to the shop owner and reimbursed him £55.

Defending, Darren Snow said there were underlying concerns about Rennoldson’s mental health, including an underlying post-traumatic stress issue, and urged the judge to consider a suspended sentence.

But Judge Andrew Bright said Rennoldson had been involved in "an extremely ill-judged binge of cannabis, cocaine, beer and spirits" that led him to commit the offences.

He told him: "Your behaviour was utterly appalling. A bizarre rampage is a fair description of what happened in the early hours of that morning.

"Small shopkeepers need to be protected by courts and they will be protected by the courts.

"The message has to go out that those who target shopkeepers have to pay the price of immediate custody."

He sentenced him to 18 months in a young offenders' institute.