A violent criminal who held a knife to a frozen food employee's throat as he robbed him of £20,000 in cash while on weekend release from prison has been jailed for six years.

Paul Collins, 34, of Meadow Road in Dagenham, was jailed yesterday at Guildford Crown Court after being found guilty of armed robbery at Glorydale Frozen Foods in the Wintersell Business Park near Brooklands in Weybridge.

Collins had arrived at the store with three other men in a grey Volkswagen Golf where he held the employee at knife point and took £20,000 in cash from where the money was being counted on March 27, 2015 at about 10pm.

He and the other men then fled the area.

After a lengthy investigation by Surrey Police, Collins was identified as a match for a fingerprint left on a draw in the office where the money was taken.

Collins, who is in a ninth year of his nine year sentence for a previous armed robbery, had been out on weekend release at the time of the robbery at the frozen food outlet.

Detective Constable Kate Hyder said: “This was a violent and pre-planned attack which caught the employee completely off guard and left him suffering the after effects of what was an extremely distressing and traumatic ordeal. 

“Despite the fact that he was already serving a prison sentence for another armed robbery under very similar circumstances, and was only on weekend release at the time, Collins had the audacity to commit a further offence which he actually thought he could get away with.

“However, thanks to the numerous enquiries carried out, and the compelling forensic evidence, we were able to identify him as the key offender in this crime and ensure he was brought to justice.

She added: “Surrey Police simply will not tolerate violent offences of this nature in our local communities and we remain determined to do all we can to ensure that anyone committing such offences is dealt with swiftly and robustly.”