A CHESHAM teenager with an IQ of 59 has been jailed for two years after carrying out a robbery with a toy handgun in the town.

Mohammed Younis, 18, of Higham Road, Chesham, pointed the imitation weapon at a member of staff at Threshers in Chesham High Street in March this year.

The court heard that Jennifer Chadwick, who was working in the shop, had been left shaken by her ordeal.

Younis had gone into the shop on March 21 and dropped coins on the counter to pay for cigarettes before pointing a toy handgun at Miss Chadwick and demanding she open the till.

He escaped with £119 in cash after Miss Chadwick pressed the panic alarm under the counter. Younis was captured on the shop's CCTV system and was also picked out at an identification parade by Miss Chadwick.

The court heard that Younis had previously been banned from entering the shop because of his bad language.

Jon Swain, defending, told the court that Younis had handed in an imitation weapon to police five days after the robbery.

Mr Swain said Younis, who admitted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm, had an IQ of only 59 as well as a mental impairment and felt remorseful about what had happened.

Judge Daniel Rodwell, sentencing Younis to two years detention concurrent in a Young Offenders' Institution, said: "I have no non-custodial option open to me."

He added that because of Younis' IQ he was passing sentence as if for a 11 or 12-year-old rather than the normal sentence of five or six years.