A LORRY driver who ram-raided a Southampton jewellers and took a fist-full of expensive watches was today jailed for nearly five years.

Winchester Crown Court heard Gary Barnes, 53, reversed his 40ft long vehicle through the front window of Parkhouse Jewellers, in Above Bar, half-an-hour after the shop opened for business on February 28.

He then moved forward, got out of the cab and grabbed nine Rolex watches valued in excess of £120,000.


When he was challenged by the shop manager he told her “If you stay here you will get shot”.

He then unhitched the trailer and drove off in his cab, through side streets of Southampton, before he stopped in Shirley after being pursued by police.

He was eventually arrested after a woman police officer sprayed him with CS gas and he had reversed into a police car.

Barnes, of Shirley Towers, Southampton, admitted robbery.

Jailing him for four years and eight months, Judge Guy Boney QC likened the drama to an episode of the 1970s TV series Z Cars.

The court heard that Barnes - who was of previously good character - had turned to crime because he feared he was going to lose his job as a lorry driver.