A ROBBER has been slapped with a five-year jail sentence after mugging a shop worker in a vicious baseball bat attack.

Darren Hughes, 45, of Flowers Way, Jaywick, has already been serving a sentence for robbery but is now set for an extended stay behind bars.

He appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court last week over a robbery charge from July 2015.

The incident happened in Tudor Parade, Jaywick, when the 44-year-old victim walked from McColl’s newsagents towards the nearby post office with the shop takings.

As he walked he was attacked by three men who beat him with baseball bats.

The attackers grabbed his bag, which had a four figure sum of cash inside, before fleeing.

The victim called the police and gave chase, but lost them when they climbed into a car and sped from the scene.

But police later received a call from a witness who identified Darren Hughes as one of the suspects.

Hughes denied robbery at first – but later changed his plea to guilty during the trial last week.

On Friday he was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the robbery.

The five-year sentence will be added to another prison sentence already being served by Hughes.

In April this year he was sentenced for his part in a knifepoint robbery at the Co-op store in Coopers Lane, Clacton, on October 27.

In that incident Hughes and another man burst into the Co-op armed with knives and forced a female cashier to open the till and hand over cash.

The two men fled to a getaway vehicle where a driver was waiting.

But all three men were eventually caught and charged.

Hughes admitted the charge of robbery and threatening a person with a knife.

He was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for the Co-op robbery and his new five year sentence will now be added to that.