AN ARMED raider was today jailed for four years for a series of robberies on Glasgow bookmakers.

Armed with a claw hammer and knife, gambling addict Alexander Rafferty struck at five betting shops staffed by women over 15 days.

He carried out three of the raids within a 10-minute spree on the same day.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that £600-a-week pipe layer Rafferty (43) was known to spend all his wages in betting shops.

Judge Lord Hodge told the raider that he had subjected his victims to "a considerable amount of trauma".

In jailing him he told Rafferty, currently a prisoner, that he would have given him a six-year term, but for his guilty pleas.

The judge ordered that Rafferty should also be kept under supervision for a further two years.

Lord Hodge said: "I hope it will also help you avoid a return to gambling and stay out of trouble."

The court heard that Rafferty has sought help in jail with his gambling problems.

He earlier admitted three robberies and two attempted robberies committed between May 2 and 17 last year.

Rafferty, from the Glasgow area, had been staying in Cupar, Fife, because of his work.

During the first attack at Ladbrokes, in Queen Street, Glasgow, the shop was about to close when Rafferty entered shattered a screen with a hammer and shouted at the two female staff.

He grabbed £380 in cash and fled.

He struck again a week later on May 9 at William Hill, Argyle Street grabbing a worker and while holding a knife told other women workers that he would stab her. He escaped with £635.

On May 17 he fled empty-handed after trying to rob a Tote shop in Cambridge Street. He smashed security screens grabbed one employee forcing her head down on a counter.

Five minutes later he struck again at a William Hill, Gordon Street where he brandished a knife and demanded cash before fleeing after customers intervened.

Minutes later he walked into a Ladbrokes, Union Street, and assaulted to female employees before making off.