A hammer-wielding robber who terrified a woman shopkeeper has been jailed for five years - only nine days after carrying out the raid.

Bradford Crown Court heard how 27-year-old David Holdsworth was wearing a balaclava mask and carrying a lump hammer when he entered Susan Spring's newsagents shop in Manchester Road on Wednesday last week.

Mrs Spring saw Holdsworth standing on the top step, about to enter. There was some "pushing and shoving'' in the doorway and Mrs Spring ended up on the floor, said prosecutor Barbara Petchey.

Holdsworth was trying to pull her back into the shop by her leg and she began shouting.

She eventually managed to run out into the street, and looking back she saw Holdsworth with the till in his hand. He was coming towards the door, so she shut it and held it firmly by the outside handle to try to prevent him leaving, said Mrs Petchey.

He was shouting, and the glass panel in the door suddenly smashed. Local residents and some men working nearby had heard "a real commotion'' going on inside the shop and went to Mrs Spring's aid.

One of them, Ian Parker, was showered with glass as the door panel smashed, but Mrs Spring was able to get out of the way.

The pair of them went to the rear of the shop where they saw Holdsworth jump from a ledge on an upstairs window. He landed in some bushes and became stuck, thrashing wildly about in a bid to break free. When Mr Parker tried to grab him he "went beserk'' and swung the hammer at him.

Another workman saw Holdsworth get into a car which was then driven away along Rooley Lane. Police arrived and followed the car at speeds of up to 70 mph in the 40mph zone on Manchester Road.

The officers saw Holdsworth suddenly appear from the back seat of the car, with his upper torso through the sun roof. He threw the till towards the police vehicle, but it missed and landed in the road.

The car screeched to a halt and the driver ran off, but was chased and caught. When an officer tried to arrest Holdsworth, he lunged at him and swung a punch which missed. He was finally arrested after being sprayed with CS gas.

In interview, he said he had set out to do "a simple shop robbery and it all went horribly wrong.''

Holdsworth, of Southfield Avenue, Odsal, Bradford, pleaded guilty to robbery and assaulting a police officer.

Andrew Walker, mitigating, said Holdsworth had decided to commit the robbery on the spur of the moment after being refused a crisis loan by the DSS earlier in the day. It had not been carefully planned.

"In view of the roadworks currently going on on Manchester Road, it is not a route that commends itself as a getaway route,'' said Mr Walker.

Passing sentence, Judge Roger Scott said the robbery had clearly gone wrong because Holdsworth did not expect to be confronted by such a "very brave lady'' trying to push him out of her shop.

Speaking after the case Mrs Spring said: "I don't think the sentence is long enough but at least it gets him off the streets.

"But I think it's brilliant that it has gone through so fast. I feel safer and better now that I know it's all over."