A ONE-legged getaway driver from Bromsgrove was caught after his DNA was found on shoelaces used to tie up an elderly couple in a robbery.

Adrian Sharp, 52, of Epsom Road, was a lookout while two accomplices raided the home of the couple, who were both aged in their 90s.

The robbers used shoelaces to tie up the couple while they ransacked the house in Cutnall Green, near Droitwich, on November 7, 2015.

The thugs threatened to stab the couple's dog before making off with more than £600 in cash and jewellery.

The two robbers were never caught but Sharp, who has since had a leg amputated after developing gangrene, was arrested.

On Monday, July 2, he was jailed for eight-and-a-half years at Worcester Crown Court after he admitted robbery on the basis he did not enter the property.

Judge Nicholas Cartwright described the robbery as "a sophisticated, organised offence".

He added that there were a number of aggravating factors, including Sharp's "appalling criminal record" which included 32 convictions for 121 offences.

The court heard how the elderly man, who suffers heart problems and has a pacemaker, answered the door of his bungalow at 5.40pm on the day of the robbery.

He was confronted by two masked thugs, one of whom was brandishing a knife.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said: "He was confronted by two males, both wearing masks over their faces, one of them brandishing a knife who said 'Where's the gold? Where's the money?' before entering the property."

The robbers stole around £600 in cash and also snatched a £300 bracelet from the elderly woman's wrist before tying them up with a pair of shoelaces.

Miss Orchard said: "One of the males made reference to stabbing their pet dog. They were concerned this dog might attack them.

"This was a pre-planned, deliberate, targeted robbery."

The robbers then left, removing the telephone to delay them calling for help.

Eventually the pair were able to cut the shoelaces from their wrists with a pair of scissors and hit their panic alarm.

Sharp was arrested at his home in Bromsgrove on December 11 after police found his DNA on the shoelaces.

Officers also seized £350 from a safe in his bedroom.

Sharp made no comment to police, but when he was in custody on other matters, police bugged his phone calls and heard him discuss receiving the proceeds of the robbery.

While on bail for the raid he committed another burglary on February 17 last year against a 69-year-old widow who was a neighbour he had known from childhood.

Lee Egan, defending, said the elderly couple appeared to be "made of rather sterner stuff" than other victims of such offences, and stressed that they had not been "roughly handled".

He said: "He's suffered amputations already and that may not be the last of the amputations he has to undergo. He does express remorse."