A serial robber who preyed on businesses in the Isle of Dogs area has been jailed.

Robert Vaughan, 25, targeted a wine warehouse in Blackwall Way on the Isle of Dogs twice and made off with around �1,500 during one of the hits last summer.

He had shown staff a knife before taking the cash from the till and safe.

Later in the year, he targeted a hotel in Baffin Way, Poplar, again showing a knife, and took �200.

He went back to the same business a month later in October but was soon arrested by officers nearby.

Tower Hamlets Police said in a statement: “Once in custody he was quickly linked with other offences based on CCTV evidence and identification procedures conducted later with the co-operation of witnesses.”

Vaughan, of Waverton House, Jodrell Road, Bow was jailed for three years and four months at Snaresbrook Crown Court last Thursday after pleading guilty to nine counts – one of theft, four of robbery and four of possession of a blade.

Det Con Gary Rowlands from Tower Hamlets CID said: “This was a nasty series of robberies and goes to show that anybody who carries a knife for criminal purposes will be caught and prosecuted.”