A masked robber who lay in wait for a coffee shop worker and held scissors to her throat while demanding money from the safe has been jailed for a total of eight years.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon that Portugese national, Joaquim Silva, a heroin addict, will be deported on his release from prison and not allowed back to the UK.

Silva, 34, of Cunliffe Terrace, Manningham, Bradford, was convicted by a jury of robbing Christine Duff of £300 cash at the Pumpkin Cafe Shop at Bradford Interchange Railway Station on April 29.

He was also found guilty of the related offences of unlawfully imprisoning Miss Duff, 23, in a storeroom while rifling the safe, and burgling her work coat and name badge.

He pleaded guilty to supplying heroin and crack cocaine after he was arrested by the Operation Stalebank undercover police crack down on street drug dealing in Bradford.

Judge David Hatton QC sentenced Silva to six and a half years for the robbery offences and 18 months consecutively for the drugs charges.

He said Silva lay in wait for Miss Duff in a crime motivated by his craving for drugs.

“You terrified her and you took hold of her. You were disguised and you threatened her. You held scissors to her throat and demanded money and you verbally abused her. She may never forget that terrifying ordeal,” the judge told him.

The jury heard that Silva stole the storeroom keys from his former partner, who used to manage the kiosk.

He put on a peaked cap and wrapped a black scarf round his face before hiding next to a tall fridge in the storeroom at 5.15am, waiting for Miss Duff to arrive for work.

After emptying the safe, he let her out of the storeroom and made good his escape.

He was arrested soon afterwards and denied all knowledge of the robbery, although he was tracked by CCTV cameras leaving the station and walking back to his former partner’s home.

In a victim statement, Miss Duff said she was off work after the robbery and now needed another staff member with her when she opened up the kiosk.

Silva’s barrister, Sophie Drake, said he was a heroin addict when he came to the UK from Portugal in 2004.

His deportation meant he would be separated from his son who lives in this country.