A Dursley man who robbed a terrified woman of her car at knifepoint was jailed yesterday for four years and eight months.

Sam Broder, 29, of The Crapen, Dursley, had sacked his lawyers ahead of yesterday's sentence hearing at Gloucester Crown Court, where he admitted robbing Christine Burton of a Hyundai Coupe in Mead Road, Abbeymead, Gloucester on November, 5 2021.

Ms Burton's traumatic ordeal was featured in the first episode of the Channel 5 documentary series 'Police After Dark' in March this year and an excerpt from the programme was played in court.

Broder robbed Ms Burton at a Tesco Express in Abbeymead after she left the store carrying her shopping with her car keys in her hand, Broder shoved her and said 'Give me your f***ing car keys.'

Broder held a knife up to Ms Burtons throat as the terrified woman handed her keys and escaped back into the store, Broder then drove off in her car.

Later that evening the car activated an automatic number plate recognition camera in the Sharpness area of the county and police responded to locate the vehicle.

After Broder had been breathalysed he was found to have 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35. He gave a ‘no comment’ interview to police.

Ms Burton described in a victim personal statement how she was prescribed medication to deal with the anxiety caused by Broder’s actions and she explained that she had to take time off work because she feared attack from a hidden assailant.

Judge Ian Lawrie QC observed: “This is a very rare occasion that when a defendant is facing such a substantial prison sentence, there is no advocate to provide any mitigation. I will have to effectively undertake this task to follow the rules.”

The judge sentenced Broder to a jail term of four years and eight months and banned him from driving for 12 months from the date he is released from prison. He ordered Broder to pay a victim surcharge of £190.

The judge also imposed an indefinite restraining order on Broder, banning him from having any contact with his victim by any means and prohibited him from entering Gloucester. He also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife.