A masked robber who wore a distinctive pair of pink trainers during a violent raid on a Galashiels post office was jailed for four years today.

Jordan Renwick donned a scarf to cover his face below his eyes but his standout footwear was later pointed out to police.

Officers spotted Renwick wearing the trainers days before the robbery after looking at CCTV footage and he was caught on camera spending cash at a shop later on the day of the raid still wearing them.

Renwick, 24, had armed himself with a hammer to stage the robbery at Gala Park Post Office, Balmoral Place, on February 12 this year.

During it he repeatedly punched manager Farrukh Sair who managed to get his hands on the hammer and the victim was also struck on the head with an object.

Renwick, who lived directly opposite the premises in Gala Park, also robbed another man, John Hardie, who had come into the newsagents shop and post office.

A judge told Renwick at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You have 31 convictions encompassing some 53 offences. For a young man that is a formidable record and you are placed at high risk of future offending."

Lord Burns ordered that Renwick serve 220 days of an unexpired part of a previous prison sentence he had been freed early from before he starts the four year term.

The judge told Renwick he would have jailed him for six years but for his guilty plea over the robbery.

He also ordered that Renwick be monitored for a further three year period following his release from prison.

Renwick earlier admitted assaulting Mr Sair and robbing him of money, stamps, cigarettes and mobile phones and robbing Mr Hardie of a phone and wallet containing £40.

During the raid he broke the lock on a till with the hammer and grabbed between £2,000 and £2,500 and took stamps worth about £700 along with £500 worth of cigarettes.

Renwick had jumped over a counter armed with the weapon and told Mr Sair to get to the floor before taking cash.

He said: "This is a post office. There is more money. Where is the money?" But Mr Sair pointed out is was a Sunday and the post office section was closed and that the safe could not be opened on that day of the week.

After Mr Sair got into a struggle with the raider, Mr Hardie managed to get out and flag down a passing motorist who dialled 999. Mr Sair was cut on the head and required six stitches for the wound.

Police later recovered some cash and Mr Hardie's phone when they searched Renwick's home.

Defence counsel Victoria Dow said that Renwick had "a fairly significant drug" debt at the time of the offence and owed the money to what he described as "a heavy drug dealer".

She said Renwick was panicking and committed the offence against that background. She said: "It would seem his offending behaviour occurs when he is under the influence of illicit substances, be it ecstasy, cocaine etc."

"Upon his sobriety the next morning when he woke up he fully appreciated what happened," she said.