Argon Hoxha, of Lingfield Hotel, Kingston, admitted taking part in the robbery during which a 37-year-old store manager, Beverley Brookes, was tied up and gagged by three masked bandits and left in fear for her life when a knife was held to her throat.

The robbers made off with about £2,000 but only Hoxha was caught.

The Old Bailey heard the 24-year-old Kosovan refugee had already been deported from the UK in 1997 but later returned in the boot of a car.

And jailing Hoxha for 10 years, Judge Richard Hawkins, QC, recommended his deportation once he had served the term.

"Plainly the robbery was carefully prepared and a very frightening experience for the victim," he told Hoxha.

The court heard that on March 25 this year, Ms Brookes was putting cash into a safe at the Lidl supermarket in Beddington Gardens, Wallington, when three masked men brandishing knives burst in.

She was ordered to lie on the floor while the robbers demanded the keys to the safe.

Her wrists were bound with plastic grips while masking tape was wrapped across her face so tightly she thought she was going to suffocate. Throughout the ordeal a knife was held to her throat.

Prosecutor Jerard McEvilly said: "She was shaking, crying and pleading with them not to hurt her."

The gang made off in a stolen car but were stopped by police in Thornton Heath. Hoxha was the only robber caught.

His barrister Stella Reynolds said: "He needed money. This was perhaps another way of sending money to his mother. His thoughts were with her at the time."