A man who wanted money to buy cocaine in Swansea robbed a Llanelli bookmakers before hoping on a train, a court has heard.

Alexander Lee Williams - known as "Slack" - assaulted the manager of the bookies before grabbing cash from the till and fleeing.

But police in Llanelli found out he was heading for the town's train station and alerted colleagues in Swansea who were able to arrest him.

At the time of the robbery Williams was on a suspended sentence having been convicted of supplying Class A drugs as part of the police's Operation Blue Thames crackdown.

Swansea Crown Court heard Williams walked into the Coral bookmakers on Station Road in Llanelli and told the manager that one of the gambling machines had "robbed" him of £40.

Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said the manager was sceptical about the claims but opened the machine to check.

Williams, who was under the influence of Valium, then began arguing with the manager and followed him back behind the shop counter, telling him he had a gun - though this was not the case.

The prosecutor said 30-year-old Williams started pushing the manager around and trying to open the tills. The manager responded by activating the silent alarm button in his pocket.

Other customers in the bookies who knew Williams - including one who was an old school friend - tried to get him to stop, but he continued shoving the manager and trying the tills.

Eventually Williams managed to grab £55 from one of the tills and left the shop, with CCTV from the street outside caught him heading towards the train station.

The court heard police were soon on the scene and, after checking footage security from inside the bookmakers and checking the external council CCTV, alerted police in Swansea that Williams could be heading their way.

Officers in Swansea searched the area around the station and found the defendant on the nearby Strand.

Mr Pulling said police formed the opinion he was "under the influence of drink or drugs".

The court heard that earlier that day Williams had gone to a friend's house in Llanelli where he had been overheard asking his partner for money to buy cocaine in Swansea. As he left the property he stole his friend's iPhone.

Williams, originally from Swansea but now of Princess Street, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to robbery, and to theft - stealing the mobile phone - when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

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The court heard he has previous convictions for 90 offences, beginning with arson when he was aged just 12. Among his list of offences are 50 for dishonesty matters, and 30 for burglary "in all its forms".

At the time of the bookmakers robbery he was on a suspended sentence - 24 months suspended for two years - after being caught supplying crack cocaine to an undercover police officer as part of Operation Blue Thames.

Paul Hobson, for Williams, said the defendant had been making progress in tackling his drug addiction - which was why the court took the unusual step of imposing a suspended sentence - but had "relapsed" following family bereavements.

He said his client was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder, and while on remand in prison following his arrest for the robbery had missed the birth of his daughter in April.

Giving him credit for his guilty pleas Judge Keith Thomas sentenced Williams to two years for the robbery and to two months for the theft to run concurrently, and he activated the previously imposed two year drug sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of four years.