A MASKED raider who tied up a supermarket manager and threatened him with a knife before making off with almost £4,000, was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Abergavenny Farm Foods manager Aaron Birch was so "traumatised" by his ordeal at the hands of Jay Hamilton-Smith that he left South Wales to live in Scotland.

Newport crown court heard that Hamilton-Smith, 29, and Bryan Wright, 24, both from Abergavenny, used walkie-talkies during the raid last October.

Hamilton-Smith, from Hillside, carried out the robbery while Wright, from Underhill Crescent, acted as "lookout" and getaway driver.

They both pleaded guilty to robbery. Wright was jailed for four years.

Hamilton-Smith wore a black balaclava ski mask when he "jumped" Mr Birch when opening the store an hour before other staff were due to arrive, the court heard.

Prosecutor Jennet Tre-harne said: "Hamilton-Smith sat astride Mr Birch, held a crowbar across his back and bound his hands behind his back."

The keys to the safe were then taken from his pockets. When Hamilton-Smith retur-ned because he could not open the safe, he put a knife to Mr Birch's neck and the middle of his back, Ms Treharne said.

After two safes were opened, Hamilton-Smith put £3,878.90 cash into a holdall and locked Mr Birch in the room before the police were alerted on his mobile phone.

The mask and a pair of orange gloves were found concealed in a garden wall around 100m from the store.

Forensic investigators found fibres from the gloves on the tape used to tie up Mr Birch and a small torch left in the safe room contained Hamilton-Smith's fingerprints.

A training shoe print belonging to Wright was found inside the store.

The court heard how Wright, who worked at the store when it was owned by Kwik Save, knew an area of the building not covered by the alarm.

The night before the robbery, Wright entered the store and removed plasterboard covering that area so Hamilton-Smith could lay in wait.

Hamilton-Smith has 26 previous convictions for 69 offences including a robbery at the Spar, Malpas Road, Newport, in 1993.

Simon Goodman, mitigating for Hamilton-Smith, said he suffered a difficult childhood and was addicted to cocaine.

Hywel Hughes, mitigating, for Wright, said he was a man of good character who believed he was involved in a burglary rather than robbery.

After the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Gam-lin said: "The victim of this crime is extremely traumatised and it has had a detrimental effect upon his ability to carry on his employment.

"Jay Hamilton-Smith and Bryan Wright showed no consideration for the effect of their actions upon the victim and were motivated entirely by greed."