A VIOLENT thug who threatened to smash a shop worker over the head with a bottle during a robbery has been jailed for two years.

Alexander Stewart also raised his fists to the female assistant asking her if she wanted punched during the incident.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Stewart grabbed a bottle and raised it above his head, in front of the woman, before demanding cash at the Co-op store on Prestonpans High Street.

He eventually left with £100 he took from the shop till.

Stewart, 40, whose address was given as a prison of HMP Edinburgh, appeared from custody at the court last Thursday, where Sheriff Paul Arthurson sentenced him to two years in prison for the attack.

Sheriff Arthurson attributed four months of the sentence to the bail aggravation of Stewart committing the offence having been granted bail at the Capital court on two previous occasions.

Stewart admitted assaulting the woman by acting aggressively, shouting at her, raising a bottle above his head and demanding cash from staff, and robbing her of £100 at the Co-op on High Street, Prestonpans, on September 8.