A MAN with a 25-year history of offences has been jailed for robbing a Bradford frozen food store at knifepoint in order to feed his drug habit.

Carl Boulton, 43, burst into the Farmfoods store in Harrogate Road, Greengates, and used a knife with an 18-inch blade to threaten a male sales assistant until he handed over about £500 in cash.

Boulton was already banned from the store for previous shoplifting offences, and had stolen £60 of meat only two hours before committing the robbery on November 20 last year.

Boulton, of Springdale Crescent, Idle, Bradford, had pleaded guilty to robbery, theft, and possession of a bladed article at a court hearing in December.

Prosecutor David Bradshaw told Bradford Crown Court that staff at the shop had recognised Boulton as a shoplifter and had challenged him as he stole the meat.

He was said to have ignored their pleas and run out of the store.

Mr Bradshaw said that two hours later, Boulton was seen on CCTV returning to the shop and threatening a staff member until he took the cash from the till.

The shop worker was said to have been "traumatised" by the robbery, which led to him taking time off work.

Boulton was arrested the following day, and told police that while he admitted having the knife, he would not have used it.

The court heard that Boulton had 45 previous convictions stretching back to 1990, making 120 appearances at court.

Gerald Hendron, for Boulton, said his client had committed the robbery in "desperation" in order to fund his drug addiction.

He admitted that the robbery had been "extremely traumatic" for the shop worker, but argued that Boulton's record was one of dishonesty as opposed to violence.

Sentencing Boulton to four years in jail, Judge Jonathan Rose said: "You have a 25-year history of offences of dishonesty and previous convictions for handling weapons.

"You have never brought the two together before.

"You embarked on yet another shoplifting offence and understandably, no-one tried to stop you.

"You then went back with what you described as an 18-inch knife.

"It is little wonder that the victim was terrified at the time and traumatised thereafter at the sight of a known criminal threatening him.

"You could have stabbed him, and he had no way of knowing what you were capable of doing."

Boulton was jailed for an additional three months for breaking the terms of a community order, and given a restraining order preventing him from entering the Farmfoods store until further notice.