A ‘CAREER criminal’ is back behind bars after a costly slip during a knifepoint shop robbery saw his face covering drop and expose his identity to security cameras.

John Cleaver ran into the Spar shop in Harvest Road, Rowley Regis, on November 16 last year and threatened staff with a knife before fleeing with £1,000 in cash.

But a scarf pulled across his face during the raid slipped and, when detectives examined in-store CCTV, they recognised Cleaver as the armed thief.

West Midlands Police detectives soon caught up again with the 31-year-old who had only recently completed an 11-year sentence for car-jacking and at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday (April 29) he was jailed for seven years after admitting robbery.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Ryan Matthews, said: "He's the kind of person people class as a 'career criminal' but it's a career leading to him spending most of his life behind bars."

Cleaver, of Queens Street,Pensnett, sped from the Spar in a Mazda 6 stolen from the driveway of a house in Court Crescent, Kingswinford, three hours before the robbery.

Police later recovered the car in Dudley's Priory Close and when Cleaver was arrested officers found photos of the stolen cash on his mobile phone.

A search of his home uncovered clothing worn during the robbery and further CCTV inquiries showed Cleaver buying a crowbar used in the robbery from a hardware store the previous day.