An Arbroath armed robber who was granted early release after being stabbed will go back to prison to complete his sentence.
Kyle Ronald’s hit on a shop in the West Port was described by a sheriff as being “as cack-handed as you get”.
The Liverpool native was jailed for 20 months at Forfar Sheriff Court in March but a court heard his accent led to him being “slashed” at Peterhead Prison.
Ronald was given a supervised release order for the remaining 10 months of his sentence only for him to miss all but one of a string of compulsory appointments.
The 23-year-old appeared from custody under warrant at Forfar, where the court heard he had missed the most recent appointment with justice services due to visiting family.
Solicitor Nick Markowski said his client had “substantial drugs difficulties” but had not offended on his released to the Peterhead area.
“Something has happened in the jail in Peterhead,” Mr Markowski said. “It was a case of mistaken identity.
“He’s got a Liverpudlian accent, which can cause problems in that area.”
In the dock Ronald confirmed: “I was slashed.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray said he had “some sympathy” for Ronald but added that he had a “horrendous” record.
“I remember this offence very well,” he said. “It was particularly serious.”
Ronald was jailed after pleading guilty to an indictment alleging possession of a blade during the attempted robbery on November 16 last year.
He will return to Peterhead and will be released on July 15 next year.
The court previously heard that Ronald had gone into the premises in Arbroath around 1.30pm.
Despite there being other customers in the shop he walked behind the counter and presented a kitchen knife at assistant Deepak Bhattarai who was sitting there on his mobile phone.
He demanded that the till be opened but Mr Bhattarai told him: “You have to go, please go.”
Ronald then grabbed 10 to 15 packets of cigarettes and fled but police followed a trail of dropped packs to an address nearby.
The shop’s owner said Mr Bhattarai was too frightened to remain there after the frightening raid.
“He was part-time and was a good worker but after that he felt he couldn’t be here any more,” he said.