THE getaway driver for a professionally planned armed robbery of a mobile phone store has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Ryan Bennett, who was banned from the road at the time, punched a shop worker during the violent raid at Carphone Warehouse.

And the 29-year-old also muscled the terrified member of staff into a walk-in safe and locked him in as they made off with £57,000 worth of stock. But Bennett, who was also on early release from prison at the time, was caught after leaving his DNA on a Coke bottle found in the abandoned getaway car.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the raid happened at the Wootton Bassett Road store just before 2pm on October 3. Three men in balaclavas stormed in and threatened the young man, who was alone as his manager was in the toilet, with a pepper spray.

He wasn’t able to set off his alarm as the robbers took it from him with Bennett the most aggressive of the three. The victim was made to put his hands above his head where they were held before he was marched through to the back of the store.

Once there he was threatened with the spray as he got the code for the safe from his mobile phone before they plundered the contents. Bennett punched him in the face as he was forced into the safe where he was locked in without his phone. The gang then fled. Miss Hingston said “In fact it was only a few seconds before his manager came and rescued him. He was terrified.”

A passer by noted the registration of the Audi they were in and it was tracked down to the M25 and followed by a police helicopter. The car, on false plates and stolen in London days earlier, was easy to spot from the air because it had a large roof box.

It got stuck in traffic close to the North Circular Road the occupants decamped as officers closed in, leaving the haul.

Bennett, of Tower Hamlets, pleaded guilty to robbery, driving while disqualified and without insurance. The court heard he had a lengthy criminal history and got six years for conspiracy to rob in 2014.

Emma Handslip, defending, said that one of his family got into debt so he took on the job to help pay it off. He knew he faced another lengthy jail term and was even more determined to stay out of trouble when he is released.

Judge Robert Pawson said “You punched the victim and he was locked in a safe: Not for very long but he was absolutely terrified.”

He also banned Bennett from the road for three years and until he has passed an extended test.

Last year ringleader Ajay Singh got six years eight months for his part in the robbery as well as escaping from prison shortly beforehand.