A DRUG addict with a £200 a day habit is today behind bars after he embarked on a terrifying armed raid at an Ipswich store. Jobless Wayne Adams, 26, used garden shears to threaten staff at the Co-op in Prince of Wales Drive before making off with almost £1,000.

A DRUG addict with a £200 a day habit is today behind bars after he embarked on a terrifying armed raid at an Ipswich store.

Jobless Wayne Adams, 26, used garden shears to threaten staff at the Co-op in Prince of Wales Drive before making off with almost £1,000.

Adams, of Pontefract in West Yorkshire, had previously admitted carrying out the robbery, and had also pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud as well as another charge of burglary. He has been sentenced to five years in jail.

Ipswich Crown Court heard how the defendant had broken into the home of an Ipswich pensioner and stolen a cheque book and a cheque card, which were used on 14 occasions to buy items worth £942 in total.

Then, on April 20 last year, Adams entered the Co-op in Prince of Wales Drive with another man, and demanded staff hand over cash.

Adams grabbed one female worker and held the blade of the shears against her neck.

Simon Spence, prosecuting, told the court: “She was terrified.

“Adams was shouting 'open the till', while the second man said 'get on the floor or I will cut you'.”

The pair fled with £934.

Adams was snared by detectives with the aid of DNA technology which linked him with the fraudulent cheques and the armed robbery.

The second robber has never been traced.

Mr Spence read an impact statement, which described how the victim had suffered nightmares and panic attacks in the wake of the raid.

Adams, who has numerous previous convictions for dishonesty offences but none for violence, began taking drugs at school.

Stephen Dyble, mitigating, described his client as a “Jekyll and Hyde character”.

He said: “The problem in his life has been his drug addiction. He started taking drugs at school, eventually moving on to heroin and crack.

“He has a £200 a day addiction and a habit such as that is particularly difficult to support legitimately.

“When on drugs he commits pretty serious offences, but when he's not taking drugs he is quiet, polite and cooperative.

“The only hope of this young man stopping the offending pattern is for him to be rehabilitated.”

Judge Neil McKittrick sentenced Adams to five years for the robbery, 12 months for burglary and nine months for the fraud offences, to be served concurrently.

He was also jailed for a further three months for bail act offences, which will run consecutively.