A HAMMER-WIELDING robber who held up a town centre bookmaker while on early release from prison for a bank job has been remanded in custody.

Sean Porter carried out the early morning raid at Ladbrokes in Regent Circus on Tuesday, February 27.

Just weeks earlier the 40-year-old was armed with an axe when he robbed a sandwich shop during a two-month crime spree.

As well as another robbery he also broke into a Moredon barber’s shop, an Old Town restaurant and a Royal Wootton Bassett butcher.

Porter, formerly of Raleigh Avenue, Walcot, admitted three robberies, three burglaries, having an offensive weapon and aggravated taking without consent in Gloucester.

He had been jailed for two years and 11 months in December 2016 after admitting the raid on TSB in Salisbury earlier that year.

But shortly after his release he raided the Chippenham and Cirencester branches of Subway, threatening a worker with a large axe in the second raid.

He pleaded not guilty to robbery at the Devizes branch of Subway on Sunday January 7 and prosecutors told Swindon Crown Court they will now not seek a trial on it.

On Saturday January 20 Porter was armed with the axe when he went to the Cirencester branch of the sandwich chain.

His face was covered with a hat pulled down to his eyes and a scarf over his nose when he demanded cash at about 8.30pm before fleeing towards the car park.

At about the same time two days later a man walked through the back door of a shop on The Bridge, Chippenham, and ordered a female member of staff to open the safe till.

His face was covered up to his nose, with a hat pulled down to the top of his eyes, and he was dressed in all black with black gloves and sand-coloured work-style boots.

After taking a quantity of cash he placed it in a black and red laptop-style bag before leaving by the same rear door.

It is thought he was heard speaking to an accomplice outside and they both got into a vehicle and drove off.

He also broke in to Virgilio’s, on Moredon Road, in the first week of February again stealing cash.

On February 27 he went in to Ladbrokes on Regent Circus at 9am while armed with a hammer, threatening staff and running off with £148 from the till.

Three days earlier he broke in to Eggelicious, on Wood Street, Swindon, and on Monday March 19 he burgled Crumps butcher on Royal Wootton Bassett High Street.

He was finally caught after aggravated taking without consent in Gloucester when he drove a car dangerously.

Judge Robert Pawson adjourned the case to Monday July 23 so a pre-sentence report can be carried out to assess whether Porter is a dangerous offender.

He remanded him in custody until then.