A ROBBER who brought terror to a Worcester hairdresser's by wielding a meat cleaver, wept as he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Hard-up James Collins, aged 23, walked into His and Her's, in Broad Street, and held manager Michael Stone captive in a back room, demanding £1,000.

He threatened to cut off his finger if he didn't hand over his gold ring but was arrested in the salon after other staff alerted police.

A Worcester Crown Court jury convicted Collins, of Tallow Hill, Worcester, of robbing Mr Stone of £150 and the ring.

Recorder Christopher Millington QC said he had entered the shop at a quiet time of day and "terrorised" the manager who feared for his life.

He said Collins had committed a very grave offence and represented a menace to the community.

The court heard that he had previous convictions for burglary and had been locked up for two years for threatening to kill his father, cut him up and put the body parts into a plastic bag.

In that case, he had fashioned a weapon from a craft knife and hid it in a shed, said prosecutor Brett Stevenson.

Collins struck on Tuesday, March 5, this year and asked Mr Stone, who was cutting a customer's hair, if he could have a quiet word in the back room.

He then produced the meat cleaver from his jacket and robbed Mr Stone of a ring, given to him by his mother for his 21st birthday.

Staff gave him £150 from the till, then managed to flee outside. Mr Stone barricaded himself in the back room while Collins battered on the door with his fists.

A police officer and a CrownGate security guard overpowered him.

Collins alleged that Mr Stone had taken him in while a 16-year-old runaway and had abused him. His counsel, Lee Marklew, claimed Mr Stone gave him the salon money to keep him quiet. But the prosecutor dismissed the defendant's story as "a figment of his imagination".

Mr Stone told the jury he had never seen Collins in his life before. He was a happily married man.

The defendant had been examined by a psychiatrist after doubts over his fitness to plead. His behaviour was being monitored.

Collins was not mentally ill at present and was not on any medication, said Mr Marklew. His only mitigation was that no one was physically injured in the robbery.