A HAIRDRESSER told last night how she has been left too traumatised to return to work in her salon after being viciously attacked by a robber.

Dawn Yates closed her business and lost her livelihood in the aftermath of the assault at the shop in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, three months ago.

Her attacker, Stuart Wilson, who fled with £100, was yesterday jailed for five years and was told by a judge: “It was a needless use of violence.”

Mother-of-three Mrs Yates, 48, said after the case at Teesside Crown Court: “He’s shattered my life for the sake of just a few quid – it’s heartbreaking.”

Detective Sergeant Jim Devine, of Middlesbrough CID, said: “It is one of the nastiest incidents I have dealt with in almost 18 years of police service.

“Wilson walked out of the salon and flicked the light switch off, so it was in darkness, leaving her on the floor – terrified, injured and in tears.”

Wilson was the last customer in the shop at 5.30pm and Mrs Yates gave him a £15 head shave and razor shave before he turned on her.

The 46-year-old, of Southfield Road, Middlesbrough, had been a regular customer at the salon, which she had run for 12 years. Wilson had on an earlier occasion befriended Mrs Yates.

The court heard how, on February 17, he entered the shop when no one else was inside and appeared on edge, but nothing to indicate he would become violent.

After grappling with Mrs Yates at the cash box, he punched her in the face, ordered her to lie on the floor and kneed her about the head and body.

Tamara Pawson, prosecuting, told the court how he threatened to kill the terrified grandmother and told her he had a gun, before fleeing.

Mrs Yates later told police she feared she was going to be raped when Wilson told her to get on the floor and not move.

The judge, Recorder Tahir Khan, told Wilson: “It is, I am sure, difficult for anybody to imagine the terror she must have felt.

“Her life has been turned upside down. The idea of her continuing to run the business that she worked so hard to build up is now unthinkable.”

Wilson’s lawyer, Rachel Dyson, said he could not fully remember the incident, but was sorry for hurting someone he regarded as a friend.

Mrs Yates said after the case: “The pain and suffering he caused me in his moment of madness has destroyed my life as I knew it.”