A DANGEROUS hammer-wielding robber who held up three bookmakers in three consecutive days was jailed for 12 years today.

David Hinde was told he presented “a substantial risk of serious harm to the public” by Judge John Harrow before he was led away from Bournemouth Crown Court, having admitted three counts of armed robbery and two of possessing a blade.

The crimes, in May this year, saw him extort nearly £1,500 from bookmakers in Bournemouth and Hampshire. In one incident he dressed in a suit and wielded a claw hammer. In two others he was armed with a knife.

“You had only been out of prison for about five months when you embarked upon this campaign of armed robberies,” said Judge Harrow.

“You terrified [the victims], it is clear they were severely traumatised and still are to the extent that they have not even been able to return to work.”

He said Hinde was “completely addled by drugs”, and he believed there was a risk of the 35-year-old “using that knife” were he to offend again.

Hinde, addicted to drugs since he began drinking and using cannabis at the age of 13, started his spree at Ladbrokes in Christchurch Road, Boscombe East, on May 7.

Prosecutor Sadie Rizzo said in each case he walked quickly to the counter and thrust a weapon at the cashier, demanding money.

The following afternoon he struck Coral in Castle Lane West, but police soon had his identity thanks to an appeal published in the Daily Echo, she said.

He was arrested near his home the following day after a third raid, in which he targeted Ladbrokes in Leith Avenue, Portchester, near Portsmouth.

Ms Rizzo said Hinde had been jailed for two “almost identical” crimes in 2011, and his prior record included robberies and wounding.

In mitigation, Brian Sharman said Hinde was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who broke the law when he was abusing drugs, but said he was not “entirely bad”, noting his good behaviour in prison.

He said Hinde had been taken into care at age 14, had started using crack cocaine at 16 and heroin at 22.

Hinde, of Walpole Road, Boscombe, was jailed for four years on each count of armed robbery to run consecutively.