A 31-year-old Brierley Hill man who carried out a string of terrifying armed robberies to fuel his £300 a day drug addiction has been jailed for nine years.

Philip Guest raided six stores in just 11 days knocking one woman assistant unconscious while another suffered a minor stroke as she was pushed backwards by the robber.

Guest, who had a total of 71 previous convictions on his criminal record, carried a variety of weapons in his crime spree and he used them to threaten the frightened store staff. He escaped with £1,400 in cash and gold chain valued at £800 when he struck at Delph Convenience store in Brettell Lane where an assistant was knocked out by a blow to her head.

The victim suffered bruising and swelling as a result and was left psychologically scarred by the incident. Guest, who was on bail at the time for motoring offences, then snatched £200 from a newsagents in nearby New Street, Oliver Woolhouse, prosecuting, said.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court the next port of call for Guest was a supermarket in Windmill Hill, Cradley Heath, where he grabbed £570 from a till after pushing a female staff member backwards.

But he was nabbed by police a short time later when he was traced to a caravan in Seymour Road, Stourbridge, where officers recovered a baseball bat and hammers used to threaten staff.

The crime spree began when Guest went to a store in Hill Street, Brierley Hill, and took £400 from the till before he left the scene at speed in a Ford Focus. That vehicle had been filled with fuel at the Tesco Express station in Hagley Road, Oldswinford, the day before when Guest left without making payment.

He also stole a woman's handbag from her shopping trolley at Sainsbury's Amblecote before stealing a Renault car that had been loaned to him at Merry Hill Car Centre.

Mr Woolhouse said he also took a car from a Kingswinford garage, snatched £30 from a newsagents in Drew Road, Pedmore, and stole a £4,800 van that was for sale at Amlin Motors in Maypole Fields. He also took £100 from a shop in Hungry Hill, Stourbridge, after threatening the manager with the baseball bat.

Guest, of Whitethorn Road, Brierley Hill, admitted robbery, theft and making off without payment and he was told by Judge Simon Ward the long list of crimes was so serious only a substantial jail term was justified.