A man has been jailed for six years four years after he was involved in tying up a security guard and stealing thousands of pounds of computer equipment from a factory.

Two masked raiders punched the 38-year-old guard and tied him to a chair with electrical wire at the Landis Lund premises in Eastburn, Keighley, in March 2002. One was armed with a Samurai-type sword.

At one point during the guard's ordeal they took his driving licence and warned him: "If you say anything about us two we will come and kill you and your family."

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson told Bradford Crown Court the terrified guard had his glasses removed and was left tied to the chair while the intruders stole the computer equipment which they took away in a stolen car.

Mr Nicholson said the guard managed to partially free himself and alert the police.

A bloodstain was found on the guard's shirt and Mr Nicholson said that sample and more blood on a roll of tape matched the DNA of convicted robber Paul Thomas. Although Thomas was questioned about the raid while in custody on other matters in November 2003, his lawyer told the court he had effectively "laid low" for the subsequent years.

Thomas, 28, of Spire Walk, Manchester, had been due for trial yesterday but entered a guilty plea to the charge of aggravated burglary. The Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, jailed him for a total of six years.

He ordered Thomas to serve one year in respect of the outstanding licence from his four-and-a-half year sentence for robbery in May 1999 before beginning a five-year prison term for the burglary at Eastburn.

"As your counsel has said, your past has come back to haunt you," noted Judge Gullick.

He said it must have been a terrifying experience for the security guard and added: "Fortunately he sustained no serious physical harm although, no doubt, the trauma of that event must have lived with him for many years, if it's not still with him."

The court heard that Thomas was not the intruder with the sword and Judge Gullick was told that he had only committed relatively minor offences since March 2002.