A DANGEROUS robber who was jailed for 17 years for taking part in a terrifying armed raid is sharing a prison cell with his father.

Jake Rouse was one of three men who threatened staff and customers before stealing more than £5,000 in cash from the Co-op store in Highfield Road, Farnworth.

As well as the raid on the Co-op, Rouse admitted taking part in a burglary at the Tesco petrol station in Walkden town centre where a 4x4 was rammed into a police car.

Rouse, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court yesterday and Judge Jonathan Foster gave him an extended 17 year sentence because he considered him to be a dangerous criminal.

Rob Kearney, defending Rouse, said he started his criminal career aged just 12 and started taking drugs aged 11. He said: "He had no proper family life to speak of. His father has been in custody since he was three. Tragically he shares a cell with his father at the moment."

The court heard how at around 7am on June 30 last year the Co-op had just opened when three men, including Rouse, burst into the store. They were all masked and one of the other two was carrying an imitation sawn off shotgun.

Jonathan Boden was working behind the till when the entered and he and a colleague, Kasim Khan, were forced by the man with the shotgun and Rouse to go towards the back office.

Mr Khan was hit in the head with the butt of the shotgun and told that if he didn't take them to the safe he would have his 'head blown off'.

Rouse, who was wearing a 'Scream' style mask, had a duffel bag – and cash was emptied into it from the safe. The third man piled cigarettes into a shopping basket, the court heard.

At one point, he became involved in a struggle with a female customer and another member of staff. Eyewitness Diane Taylor heard her scream and went over to help and tussled with the robber.

Mrs Taylor also tried to put her key in the automatic door to try and stop the three men escaping but Rouse held it open. They drove off in a Toyota but staff managed to get the registration plate.

In a victim personal statement, Mr Boden said he felt 'shaken and nervous' and Mr Khan added he felt annoyed he didn't do more to stop it.

Mrs Taylor, whose bravery was commended by the judge, said in a statement: "I have worked at the shop for 24 years. This is the most serious incident I have seen. It was quite clear at the time that some of the customers were in absolute shock. Some of them were trembling and crying and this made me angry."

Shortly after the raid, there was a report that the getaway car had been involved in an accident in Bulle Hill Avenue, near Little Hulton Police Station.

Officers made their way on foot to the scene and members of the public told them they had seen two of the men that had been in the car coming out of a house nearby.

Rouse was seen by members of the public fleeing the scene through nearby back gardens before he was found hiding and was arrested.

Police searched the house the two men had been seen coming out of and recovered £5,500 in cash, cigarettes, face coverings and a shotgun cartridge. The weapon used in the raid has not been recovered.

After his arrest, Rouse admitted his role in a number of other robberies and burglaries.

A 4x4 was rammed into the back of Tesco petrol station in Walkden at around 4.30am on June 30 and the fire door was forced open allowing a group of men to enter.

The night shift manager from Tesco confronted the driver of the vehicle and the man threatened him with a sledgehammer. The 4x4 drove off from the scene and was soon spotted by a police car and they began to follow it with the lights and sirens on.

At one point the 4x4 stopped and a man got out with a sledgehammer and smashed one of the windows of the police car.

The vehicle drove off and the officers gave chase again before the 4x4 again braked suddenly and rammed the police car before fleeing. The officers tried to carry on the chase but the car was too badly damaged.

Both officers required hospital treatment and had to take time off work.

Rouse also admitted the robbery of two iPhones from two 15-year-old boys as they waited for a bus in Irlam on June 19 last year and asked for two other robberies and three offences of taking a vehicle without consent to be taken into consideration.

Rouse was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the Co-op robbery, four years for the two street robberies, the burglary and the other offences that were taken into consideration to be served concurrently to each other but consecutively to the robbery and a three year extension because he was declared to be dangerous.

He was handed 10 years to be served concurrently for possession of an imitation firearm.

Rouse appeared in link court video link from Forest Bank Prison and did not see the end of the hearing as he stormed out of the video link room while the sentences were read out.