Two robbers who plundered a Bradford newsagents after overpowering the assistant were today starting jail sentences.

Akbar Rehman, 24, who had been previously convicted of five other robberies, was locked up for four and a half years.

The Recorder of Bradford Judge James Stewart QC, warned him: “Rest assured, Rehman, you appear again for robbery and you will get life imprisonment.”

Waheed Khan, 22, was jailed for two years for the raid on Gills Newsagents in Leeds Road.

Rehman, of Thryberg Street, Barkerend, Bradford, and Khan, of Armison Street, Barkerend, disguised themselves in hoods and scarves before bursting into the shop, with another man, at 6.20pm on Sunday, October 4, last year.

Prosecutor Tahir Khan told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that shop assistant Frank Colman, 53, had kept the door locked after the shop was robbed weeks earlier but the three robbers burst in, knocking him against a magazine rack.

One raider held Mr Colman down while the other two rifled £60 from the till and filled binliners with £900 of cigarettes.

Another staff member, Roger Moffat, 44, saw the robbery on CCTV and called the police. He and Mr Colman chased after the gang but they escaped.

Police officers arrived quickly and spotted the robbers hiding behind a car.

Mr Colman banged his head when he fell in the shop. He had since suffered headaches, stress and emotional trauma. He still works at the shop but had lost confidence and feared another robbery.

Rehman is responsible for a catalogue of street muggings in the past ten years. He snatched cash, rings and phones from his victims in Bradford city centre and Shipley.

His barrister, Alan Taylor, said Rehman had severe learning difficulties and was easily suggestible. “He is terrified by the prospect of imprisonment for the protection of the public,” Mr Taylor said.

“I doubt if he is as terrified as his victims were,” replied Judge Stewart.

The judge branded a medical report, stating Rehman was “only a medium risk of re-offending”, complete nonsense.

Jeremy Hill Baker, for Khan, said he was of good character. He was neither the prime mover, nor the instigator of the robbery and was deeply remorseful.

Judge Stewart told Rehman: “Small businesses such as this provide an essential service to the very community which has nurtured you and this is how you repay them.”

Rehman was jailed for four years for robbery and six months for breach of a suspended prison sentence.