TWO MEN wielding sledgehammers who tied up a garage employee in Horndean and stole almost £30,000 have been warned they are facing years in prison.

The duo had admitted tying up the employee and stealing a safe containing £29,000 from Horndean Tyres on Westfield Industrial Estate off the Portsmouth Road, at a previous hearing on July 7 last year.

At Portsmouth Crown Court last Friday, Judge Stephen Climie warned Jamie Gatterell (34) and Jacob Jackson (22) he was considering sentences of 11 and seven years respectively.

But he postponed his decision until this Friday, February 2, so impact statements from the employee and business owner could be presented to the court.

These, said Judge Climie, would determine the actual length of the sentences imposed on Jackson, of Geoffrey Crescent in Fareham, and Gatterell, of Rapson Close in Paulsgrove.

The court heard the men contacted the garage at about 1am on March 9 last year, asking if a tyre fitter could come to the Hindhead Tunnel on the A3 to replace a punctured tyre.

But when the employee arrived at the garage to collect a new tyre, he was ambushed, threatened and forced to open the building by the two men. He was then bundled inside and he was tied up.

For the prosecution, Thomas Wilkins said: “The two went upstairs, and straight to where the safe was and ripped it out of the floor. They knew exactly where it was.”

Gatterell had worked at the garage before being sacked over a fight with another employee about two years ago, the court heard.

But while they were upstairs, the employee freed himself and ran to a nearby hotel, where he called the police. However, the robbers escaped with the safe before officers arrived.

Aleks Lloyd, defending Jackson, said: “He played a fairly limited role and is full of remorse about how the employee was treated. He says he didn’t realise how far Gatterell would go.”

Gatterell was arrested after police checked garage records. Then it was found a mobile phone he owned was used to make calls to Jackson, and to buy a car used in the robbery.

The car was bought in East Meon, and Jackson drove Gatterell there to get it. Jackson also disposed of the safe after it was emptied, and for his part in the robbery he was paid £4,000.

Defending Gatterell, David Reid said: “Gatterell accepts he was the lead figure and recruited Jackson.

“He says he was a heavy cocaine user before this robbery, and incurred a serious debt which he hoped to pay off.

“Although weapons were produced, they weren’t used, they weren’t bladed and there were no significant injuries to the employee.

“He says all the money from the robbery is gone.”