THE owner of a Worcester clothes shop came face-to-face with a masked burglar following a 'terrifying' ram raid.

Simon Jones was one of two men who raided Armstrongs in Sansome Walk, destroying the the shop front with a stolen car and making off in another stolen getaway car. The family who own the business were asleep in a flat above the premises at the time of the raid and woke to confront one of the burglars in the shop, his face hidden by a balaclava.

The raiders stole just under £16,000 worth of designer and tailored suits, repairs to the shop front cost £8,000 and security upgrades cost a further £5,000, taking the overall bill to £29,000, not including the loss of trade in the run up to Christmas 2015.

The 33-year-old of Clare Road, Malvern appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday for his role in the two-man burglary, described by judge Nicolas Cartwright as 'a planned, professional ram raid burglary'.

Judge Cartwright said: "Inside the shop they were confronted by either you or your accomplice. It must have been terrifying."

CCTV of the raid was played to the court.

The judge told Jones: "You have shown no remorse or offered any apology or assistance in the recovery of the stolen goods."

The owner, Simon Hyslop confronted one of the masked raiders inside the premises.

In a statement read out to the court he described the emotional impact of the ram raid on his family, referring to their dread and anxiety in the wake of the burglary.

“We just don’t feel as safe as we did” he said.

The case was delayed because Jones, described as 'a prolific thief' by the judge, absconded at a previous court hearing during a cigarette break, claiming later he had 'panicked'.

Alec Small, prosecuting, said a Vauxhall Nova was stolen from Park Avenue in Worcester on December 14, 2015, the same night an Audi was stolen from an address in Hallow.

Two licence plates were also stolen from a Ford Mondeo in Ivy Street, Worcester which created 'ghost identities' for cars used in the raid on the shop at 4.30am on December 15, 2015.

The court heard how Mr Hyslop heard a car revving and the sound of an alarm, turning the light on in the shop to find a 6ft 2in man wearing a balaclava, overalls, gloves and carrying an armful of clothes.

Mr Hyslop attempted to grab the clothing but his arm was knocked away. The masked man ran from the shop and got into the passenger side of the Audi. However, Mr Hyslop managed to record the car registration and call 999.

The registration plates on the Audi were those stolen from the Mondeo the previous evening.

The outside wooden doors of the shop had been smashed by the Nova which had been used as a ‘battering ram’ with a palette used as an 'anvil'.

Spots of blood were found at the scene and DNA samples obtained. One of the samples corresponded to Jones and the other to an unknown male.

Jones was arrested at his home address on January 23 last year and when interviewed he told police he had no cause to enter Worcester and would only go there to do his Christmas shopping.

“He said he didn’t know where the shop was and had never been there before. He described himself as ‘a Malvern person’ and said he didn’t drive and walked everywhere” said Mr Small.

He told officers: “I would not have the bottle to carry out that kind of offence.”

However, he pleaded guilty last July only to vacate his plea on December 6 last year when he absconded from the court building on a cigarette break. He was arrested on December 18 on a warrant. As a result any credit for his guilty plea had evaporated, the judge told him.

Lee Egan, defending, said that when Jones left the court ‘he simply panicked’ and described his client as 'rather pathetic'.

Mr Egan said Jones had used drugs since the age of 15 but stopped taking them only to become heavily dependent on alcohol.

In October 2016 he said Jones suffered severe kidney problems which he still lived with. Mr Egan told the court Jones had ‘nothing like this’ in his previous offending and stressed there had been no further offending since.

“All he wants in life now he’s free of the effects of drugs and alcohol is to get a job like normal people, hopefully working with animals. He’s not a sophisticated man” he said.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright jailed Jones for three and a half years, less the time he has spent on remand, referring to 'a large number of significant aggravating features'.

He told Jones: "Your actions have all been designed to manipulate the court system and introduce delay."

After the hearing Mr Hyslop, owner of Armstrongs, said: "I'm just glad it has come to some sort of conclusion."

The firm was established in 1767 and has been at its existing Worcester home since the mid 1800s.