TWO career criminals who carried out terrifying armed robberies at Spar stores in Caerleon and Portskewett have been jailed for a total of 23 years.

DJ Lee Bidmead, 46, was handed a 17-year extended sentence, and Brian Butler, 49, was jailed for six years by Judge Daniel Williams at Newport Crown Court.

The pair were found guilty by a jury of the raids at the two shops on March 11 and March 20, 2016.

Prosecutor Jonathan Elystan Rees read out a victim impact statement from a store worker in the second raid in Portskewett, Sarah Dalton, who had petrol thrown in her face by Bidmead who was armed with an imitation Glock handgun.

She said: “He sprayed petrol all over me and placed a gun on the counter. I was more frightened it would be ignited and he would burn me.”

The judge told Bidmead, who the court heard like to portray himself as a hardened, professional criminal, that: “Big men do not terrorise vulnerable women working alone by pointing a gun at them and pouring petrol all over them.”

During the course of the two-week trial at Newport Crown Court, the jury heard that Bidmead’s previous convictions included a 2005 robbery he and an accomplice had committed with a shotgun.

Turning to Butler, who helped organise the raids, the judge added: “You knew that Bidmead was capable of serious and cowardly violence.”

Butler’s many brushes with the law, included 31 previous convictions for 89 offences,

These offences, stretching between 1981 and 2014, included supplying heroin, theft, handling, burglary and going equipped.

Drug problems featured heavily in the lives of the pair.

Ruth Smith, mitigating for Bidmead, said: “He has been suffering from an addiction to heroin – it has plagued his life.”

Butler’s barrister Harry Baker said that although his client had many previous convictions, this was the first for violence.

Butler’s son, Kieran O’Neill, 32, of Wolseley Road, Newport, had also stood in the dock with the pair, but he was cleared of two counts of robbery.

Bidmead, of no fixed abode, was convicted of two counts of robbery and two charges of possessing an imitation firearm.

Butler, of Radnor Road, Newport, was found guilty of two counts of robbery.

The judge told Bidmead he was being made the subject of an extended sentence which is a determinate sentence comprising a custodial term plus an extended period of licence.

He told him he would be sentenced to 13 years in jail and would only be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of that term.

Judge Williams said his extended period of licence would be four years, making a combined sentence of 17 years.

It was the Crown’s case that Bidmead was the masked robber who had carried out the raids while armed with an imitation Glock handgun, while Butler supplied the finance and organised the hiring of a Vauxhall Meriva from Europcar in Newport to be used as the getaway vehicle.

Mr Rees told the court how Caerleon shop assistant Emma Brinsdon was bundled to the floor and how the robber had said: “This is no joke. If I am not going to get it (the money), I’m going to shoot you.” He then fled with £800.

The prosecutor said police had recovered a text Bidmead had sent in the weeks leading up the robberies in which he had bragged about his criminal track record.

He had written: “I’m a professional. I just wish you could see my CV. The work I put into the target is the best.”

But after spraying the petrified shop worker with petrol in Portskewett, Bidmead made a huge mistake by leaving behind the bottle he had kept the fuel in. It contained his DNA.

Police caught up with him a few days later when he was arrested at a flat in Pontypool’s Hanbury Road known to be a popular den for drug users.

A search by officers found a replica Glock 17 gun, again with Bidmead’s DNA, which the prosecution claimed was the same one that was used in the raids.

Outside the court, Gwent Police Detective Constable Carrie Streeter said: “This series of robberies could have resulted in tragic consequences. Having supported the victims throughout the investigation I have seen first-hand the impact the incidents have had on them but also the sheer emotion that was evident when the guilty verdict was returned.

“I hope today’s sentence will offer some closure and peace of mind to all those effected. The sentence passed down reflects the gravity of these type of offences and proves Gwent Police will persistently pursue and bring to justice those who commit crime within Gwent.”

Detective Sergeant Matthew Edwards, who supervised the investigation, added: “These incidents were terrifying and distressing for all the victims involved. During both incidents, staff were threatened with a firearm and the victim working in Portskewett had petrol squirted over her, before money was stolen.

“There was no regard for any of the victims who were merely going about their daily working routine. This was a complex and protracted investigation which DC Carrie Streeter worked tirelessly and methodically on over a period of 18 months to ensure those that were responsible were brought to justice.”