The police have welcomed the five-year jail term on a knife wielding robber who raided a shop run by an 87-year-old former sailor.

Simon Isaac, aged 28, of The Avenue, Newton Abbot, is starting his sentence after being jailed at Exeter Crown Court for the robbery at the Attic antiques and jewellery shop in Newton Abbot and a bag snatch at the town's railway station.

He was using so-called legal highs when he subjected shopkeeper George Gillman to a terrifying knifepoint ordeal before snatching £12,000 worth of rings and demanding the £500 contents of his till.