A TRIO of knifepoint robbers treated themselves to a day out at Thorpe Park and the London Eye after snatching £1,000 from an Oxford café.

David Colwill, Daniel Hornsey and a 17-year-old youth who cannot be named went on the jolly after robbing the Rainbow Café in Magdalen Street.

The group also carried out a robbery at an Oxford newsagent before Hornsey made a later solo raid on the Rainbow Café, this time pretending he had a gun in his pocket.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday prosecutor Alistair Grainger said the first offence took place at the eatery at about 9pm on October 2, 2010.

He said 24-year-old Colwill was “the lookout, the reconnaissance man” who went in to the premises initially to ask how much he could buy for 35p and then how much a chocolate bar would cost.

At that point, the 17-year-old boy came in with a scarf over his face with a kitchen knife in his hand.

He demanded waitress Suhyun Oh hand over the contents of the till, which came to about £1,000.

Hornsey, 21, who Mr Grainger called “the organiser, a lookout and a supporter” then “guided the group into a taxi” in George Street.

Two days later the gang used the same technique, with the teenager holding up a knife to rob R & H newsagent in St Clement’s Street of 12 packets of cigarettes and about £25 in cash.

When police raided the youth’s address they found a receipt for a knife and tickets and photos chronicling the group’s day out.

Mr Grainger said: “It’s clear whatever the motives that the three spent the profits on a trip to London.

“There were photographs in the London Eye and tickets to Thorpe Park.”

The final offence, involving Hornsey acting alone, took place at Rainbow Café on October 21, 2010, when he told waitress Anna Marciak he had a gun in his pocket and demanded she hand over cash. He made off with about £70.

Stephen Bailey, defending Colwill, of Croxford Gardens, Kidlington, said his client suffered from a very low IQ and ADHD after being born with foetal alcohol syndrome.

He said: “He struggles to identify the seriousness of any behaviour he gets involved with.”

Janick Fielding, defending Hornsey, also of Croxford Gardens, said his client had progressed well at Bullingdon Prison on remand and added: “This is not someone who will sit in his cell playing Xbox, this is someone who is clearly motivated to address the reasons they are there to make good the opportunities they have been given.”

Hornsey, who admitted three counts of robbery, was jailed for two years and nine months.

Colwill, who admitted two robberies, was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, with a requirement to do 150 hours’ unpaid work and adhere to a four-month curfew.

The 17-year-old in the group, from Kidlington, was jailed for 32 months at an earlier hearing.