A ROBBER could be facing a life term if he commits another serious offence after being released from his latest prison sentence - extended to protect the public.

Anthony Wallace was deemed a dangerous offender by a judge who heard how he had terrified members of staff at a local shop when he went in with a knife demanding money.

One of the victims bravely read out an impact statement at Teesside Crown Court before 32-year-old Wallace – described as a Jekyll and Hyde character by his barrister – was dealt with for the February robbery.

She told how she has been off work ill since the attack, has only been back to the shop twice, but immediately burst into tears because it brought the ordeal flooding back on one visit.

Now, she feels vulnerable and scared if she goes out, cannot "switch off" from what is happening around her, and had to abandon a shopping trip with her partner when there was a group of youths outside the supermarket.

"I can't put into words what effect those 20 or 30 seconds have had on my life," she said. "My day-to-day life has been tipped upside down.

"When the man came into the shop with a knife, I thought he was going to kill me.

"I really don't want to go back to work, but I have got bills to pay.

"Before the incident, I really enjoyed my job. I love the girls I work with, they are all great, and I used to love going in. All the customers are great.

"I have been back in twice, the first time to drop off my sick-note, but as soon as I walked through the door I burst into tears. I was shaking because it put me back into the shop on the day of the robbery.

"People keep saying it won't happen again., but I have a real fear it will.

"But I refuse to let the person who did this beat me. I will return to my normal life. I will not let this man change my life."

Wallace was recognised by police from CCTV footage in the Martin McColl shop in New Marske, east Cleveland, because of his "distinguishing features", prosecutor Chris Wood said.

Fifteen minutes before he struck, he went in to buy some sweets, to "see the opposition, who he was going to face", Judge Sean Morris said.

He repeatedly made stabbing motions towards the face of one of the two women workers with the kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade, demanding "money, money, money" when he returned.

The petrified shop assistant activated the till open button on the Post Office counter, and Wallace fled with £568.

The court heard how he was jailed for five years in 2008 for almost identical raids on a Ladbrokes bookmakers in Easington, County Durham, and a Bells store in nearby Peterlee.

While serving his sentence at Acklington Prison, near Morpeth, in Northumberland, he and another inmate attacked a third and slashed his face with a makeshift knife.

Andrew Teate, mitigating, said Wallace, originally from Easington, had Jekyll and Hyde characters, and his personality completely changed when he took drugs.

Mr Teate said he worked in a furniture factory, got a job as a machine operator, then a car technician at Nissan and started to run his own mobile mechanic business.

Wallace, of Coniston Road, Skelton, east Cleveland, admitted robbery and was given five years and four months, with an extended licence period of five years.

Judge Morris told him: "Whenever you get out in the next decade, if you commit a further offence, then you are looking at being returned to prison, and if it is a serious offence, it will mean life."