A CARJACKER who threatened terrified store security staff and hijacked two vehicles at gunpoint was jailed for life yesterday.

Shaun Sidgwick, 39, was branded a dangerous villain by a judge at Teesside Crown Court, who described his criminal past as disturbing.

Sidgwick appeared in court, along with co-accused Mark Gamble and William Gatley, after he pleaded guilty to carjacking a 21-year-old Darlington woman at gunpoint, threatening security staff at Morrisons supermarket, in Darlington, with a gun and using a pistol and a claw hammer to threaten a man in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Judge Michael Taylor said only a life sentence would suffice for the 39-year-old, who had previously served six years in jail for robbery and seven years for aggravated burglary.

Judge Taylor told him: "I regard you as dangerous. Your pattern of behaviour so far would be worrying, but these two episodes of extreme, terrifying violence over those few days indicate to me that the public are at a very significant risk of harm.

"The victims of your crimes indicate in their statements the terror they feel and they talk of lasting fear and concern they have in their minds.

"The public are rightly entitled to be protected from your behaviour."

The court heard how Sidgwick and Gatley put a gun to the head of Alexander Hatfield and brandished a claw hammer at him in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, at about 1.15pm on May 19.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said the victim had gone to help the pair, who had crashed their car, but was threatened with a pistol and told to hand over the keys to his Ford Fiesta car.

The incident was described as terrifying and intimidating.

Hours later, after picking up two girls in Port Clarence, Middlesbrough, the pair, as well as Gamble, drove to Darlington, where Gatley stole four cans of cider from Morrisons supermarket, in North Road. But the 30-year-old was seen by store security officers.

They chased him through the town and caught him in the car park of the nearby Hopetown Club.

But as the staff walked Gatley back to the store, they were confronted by Sidgwick wielding the gun.

As the frightened security guards scattered, Gatley was bundled into the Fiesta, which was driven at the store staff.

Ms Egerton said: "It reversed and collided with a wall. The two women in the back of the car were hysterical."

The three men fled after the incident and, in an effort to lie low, pitched a tent near the Middlesbrough Transporter bridge. Despite a massive police search, it looked as though the gunmen had slipped the net.

But five days later, Gamble and Sidgwick accosted a 21-year-old teaching assistant in Kendrew Street car park, off Gladstone Street, Darlington.

The court heard the defendants appeared from nowhere and held a gun to the terrified victim's forehead.

They demanded money from her, but they sped off in her car when she told them she did not have her purse.

The pair were arrested three hours later in Yarm, near Stockton, after an 80mph police chase.

The gun was never recovered, but barristers acting for the defence said the weapons used in all the incidents had been imitation pistols.

Judge Michael Taylor said it did not matter they were fake because of the huge psychological effect on the victims, who believed they were real.

Gamble, 31, of Rigby Terrace, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to robbery, two counts of possession of an imitation firearm, dangerous driving, having a bladed article, and minor driving offences. He was jailed for seven years.

Sidgwick, of Laburnum Grove, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to two robberies, and three counts of using an imitation firearm to avoid arrest and two of possession of an imitation firearm.

Gatley, of Laburnum, Grove, Middlesbrough, admitted attempted theft, theft and robbery. He was jailed for six years.