A repeat offender who carried out an armed robbery for a £1 coin and a can of lager has been jailed for six-and-a- half years.

A judge told Darren Small: "The time has now come for you to receive a lengthy prison sentence in order to provide the public with some respite from your criminal activities."

Lord Uist pointed out at the High Court in Edinburgh that 27-year-old Small had been jailed on 11 separate occasions as he amassed a lengthy criminal record and had breached bail conditions on numerous occasions.

Small, a ­prisoner in ­Glasgow's ­Barlinnie jail, was convicted of assaulting and robbing pensioner Norman Robertson by ­brandishing a knife and taking the can of drink and coin at Laing Place, Dundee, on September 25 in 2013.

He had been freed on bail at Dundee Sheriff Court a fortnight earlier.