A JUDGE has stopped the trial of a building labourer accused of robbing a woman at knifepoint at a Redditch cash machine.

Tamsin Mogg had £220 stolen from her outside Tesco in Coldfield Drive, Oakenshaw, on September 13.

A man grabbed her, held a knife to her throat and forced her to withdraw money before he fled into bushes.

Police arrested 32-year-old Simeon Gittens, of Upper Highgate Street, Birmingham, after his photograph, taken from the store's security camera, was published in a newspaper.

He denied robbery and claimed he was at his sister's home on the night of the offence.

He accepted he was in the store the previous evening when his photograph was taken by a CCTV camera.

Judge Anthony Cleary stopped the trial after legal arguments from defence counsel. He remanded Gittens in custody and ordered a retrial on August 22.