Starbucks staff were terrified after a robber smashed his way through a drive-thru perspex window with a hammer.
Anthony Atherton, of Sapphire Road in Old Swan, turned up to the coffee shop on Edge Lane early one morning and after smashing it, climbed through the wrecked window.
The 37-year-old then grabbed hold of two of the women workers and dragged them around by their clothing and hair.
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Liverpool Crown Court heard he was demanding access to the safe but the only person able to open it, the manageress, had escaped and run for help.
The two other petrified workers were “cowering and hiding” while Atherton, who had tried to disguise his appearance with a hat and had a length of rope with him, searched the premises and smashed up the till.
He then discovered the two women and grabbed them by their clothes and kept demanding the code for the safe while roughly dragging them around.
Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting said: “He was shouting, ‘I’m going to smash everything up if you don’t open the safe, I’ll have you'."
When one of the women said she did not have the code he told her he did not believe her and began dragging her around by the hair, pulling her head back.
Eventually he pushed them to the floor and they were able to flee to the nearby KFC restaurant. Meanwhile the manageress of the Edge Lane premises had stopped a passing motorist to get help.
Atherton left Starbucks empty-handed after the 15 minute raid, which took place about 7am on October 17 last year, and headed towards his home, said Mr Lowe.
He had been captured on CCTV and police went to his home in Sapphire Road, Old Swan but he was not there. However officers went to the nearby home of his then-girlfriend’s mum 12 days later and he opened the door and was arrested.
Unknown to his victims Atherton’s previous 43 convictions include a seven year sentence for raiding a betting shop in Aigburth Road in January 2007 during this he threatening staff with a gun. The weapon and two bullets for it were later recovered.
He had used a claw hammer to smash his way through the security partition and smashed the tills and Judge Gary Woodall pointed out that that was a “remarkably similar offence” to the latest raid.
Atherton, a dad-of-two, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and on Monday was jailed for four and a half years.
Judge Woodhall ruled the defendant was a danger to the public and imposed an extended three and a half year licence. Atherton will have to serve two thirds of the custodial term before he can apply for parole.
A probation report described him as posing a high risk of serious harm.
The judge said that in an impact statement the manageress told how she had been terrified and was struggling to cope and had to take anti-depressants. She had to take time off and ended up handing in her notice.
The court heard her two colleagues had been shocked and scared and feared they would be seriously injured.
Judge Woodhall told Atherton: “I accept you may have been in difficult personal circumstances but none of that justified what you went on to do. Clearly your motivation was financial reward.”
John Rowan, defending, said that it had been a long time since he had committed anything as serious and he had been working as a painter and decorator and had a partner and young daughter.
He had also been avoiding cocaine and alcohol and they had stable accommodation and he believed he had turned his back on offending.
There was an altercation within the extended family and he lost his accommodation. He also feared he would lose access to his children.
Mr Rowan said: "He felt he had lost everything and had nothing else to live for. He wanted to go back to prison."
Atherton has not seen his two month old baby as he has been on remand since his arrest but has been doing well in prison.
Mr Rowan added he was “ashamed and disgusted” by his behaviour and wanted to apologise to his victims.
