VIOLENT robber Patrick Clegg, who subjected golf club caretakers John and Jackie Wiltshire to a terrifying ordeal, has been jailed for 15 years.

Wiltshire police and the North Wiltshire Golf Club, in Bishops Cannings, where the raid took place, have welcomed the sentenced imposed on Clegg, a criminal who had committed similar robberies all over the country.

Clegg and an unknown accomplice tied up Mr and Mrs Wiltshire after forcing their way into the golf club as the couple were locking up on the night of May 15 this year.

The robbers, who wore masks, then ransacked the gaming and cigarette machines stealing £200.

Clegg, 35, of Henley Green, Coventry, was sentenced to the lengthy prison term at Chester Crown Court last Thursday. He faced six charges including burglary, robbery and aggravated taking of a vehicle.

He asked for another 36 similar charges of which the raid at North Wilts Golf Club was one to be taken into account.

DC Jon Lee of Devizes CID, who investigated the raid at the golf club, said the judge had ruled that Clegg would have to serve at least ten years in jail.

DC Lee said: "This offence was of a particularly serious nature which mirrors the sentence handed out by the courts. The witnesses went through a terrible ordeal and have suffered as a result of this harrowing experience."

Mr and Wiltshire did not want to comment on the sentencing but Trish Stephenson, secretary at North Wilts Golf Club, told the Gazette they were satisfied with the prison term.

Mrs Stephenson said: "Jackie and John are very pleased with the sentence. It has been an enormous relief to them.

"Although it is reassuring to know that the man has got a 15 year prison sentence it will still take Jackie and John time to come to terms with what happened.

"They have had quite a traumatic time of it but they are stalwart people and are determined to carry on as best they can and not to let it get the better of them."

Mrs Stephenson said since the robbery security at the golf club had been upgraded.

Clegg was identified after West Midlands detectives viewed closed circuit television footage of the golf club robbery, sent to them by Devizes CID.

Clegg was arrested in June after trying to escape from police in North Wales in a car stolen during a previous robbery.

Clegg's vehicle hurtled into a 29-year-old police officer leaving him with multiple injuries, including a fractured skull. Clegg admitted the raid at North Wilts Golf Club to police following this arrest.

The court heard that Clegg had been a serial criminal, stealing in excess of £150,000 of property during a 16 month period in robberies as far apart as Coventry, Oxford, Gloucester, Bedfordshire, Devon and Leicestershire.

Stephen Everett, prosecuting, claimed that Clegg was a high level professional criminal, who frequently threatened or bound and gagged his victims.

Merion Lewis-Jones, defending, told the court Clegg had shown remorse for his crimes.

Clegg was sentenced to 13 years in prison and was also ordered to serve 711 days outstanding from a previous seven-year jail sentence.

Judge John Roger QC described Clegg as a ruthless, professional criminal. He said: "For 16 months you and your associates targeted dwellings, golf clubs and their premises to rob and to burgle. These were carefully planned and ruthlessly executed offences."