A ROBBER with a guilty conscience has been jailed for three years after he turned himself into the police and admitted a brutal hammer attack on a petrol station cashier.

Police had suspected Michael King, 40, after the raid in Stroud in May this year and had arrested him and searched his home in Swindon. He denied being involved and was released because police did not find enough evidence against him.

But three months later King went to a police station and confessed.

At Gloucester Crown Court last Friday King, formerly of Swindon but now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbing Pandlan Elangovan at a petrol station in London Road, Stroud, on June 3 2017.

Judge Ian Lawrie QC was told that at 3am on June 3, 2017 two men wearing balaclavas entered the garage and attacked Mr Elangovan with a hammer and a knife before making off with £688 in cash and a bottle of Bacardi.

Prosecutor George Threlfall said the knife was pointed at the cashier by the unknown intruder.

He added: “Mr Elangovan tried to defend himself and was hit by King with a hammer, beginning a sustained and prolonged attack by the two men.”

Mr Elangovan sustained injuries to his hand and head and he was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol and released later that morning.

Mr Threlfall said King had a ‘guilt complex’ and three months later handed himself in to police where he admitted his part in the robbery. The other intruder still remains at large.

Judge Ian Lawrie QC said to King: “You’ve had a bad history of drug addiction. You moved from burglary to robbery to get more money to feed your habit.”

Judge Lawrie sentenced King to three years in prison and ordered that he pay a victim surcharge of £170.