A BETTING shop raider who fled with a cash haul in Nelson has been told he faces the prospect of a substantial jail term.

Mohammed Maroof, 30, of Lime Street, has confessed to robbing Deborah Yarwood of a substantial amount of money, at the Betfred shop in Manchester Road, next to Pendle Rise shopping centre, on January 18.

Mahroof pretended to have a gun when he approached the counter, at around 7.30pm on a Saturday night.

He was taken to the safe inside the premises, from which he is thought to have removed a large amount of money before fleeing across the pedestrianised precinct.

Lancashire Police were immediately contacted and, after making enquiries, they arrested a suspect at a property nearby.

Detectives examined CCTV footage as part of their enquiries - the town centre precinct is heavily populated by bank and building society cameras - and later charged Mahroof with the robbery.

In a hearing yesterday at Burnley Crown Court Mahroof admitted robbery but it was claimed that he had "nothing similar on his record" for such offences.

The court was told that while the victim believed Mahroof had a firearm, as he claimed he had one, but he was in fact unarmed.

Adjourning the case, Judge Beverley Lunt told the defendant: "You must understand a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable and you should not read anything other into that because I am ordering a report."