A DAD who took part in a carefully planned ram-raid at a Hampshire burger bar has been jailed for five years.

Painter and decorator Nicholas Spencer, 27, began sobbing as jurors found him guilty of taking part in a gang raid at Burger King in Hedge End - his 40th conviction.

Forensic evidence had helped seal Spencer's fate at Southampton Crown Court, where he had pleaded not guilty to an allegation of conspiracy to burgle.

Jurors heard how traces of fibreglass and metal found in his clothing linked him to the raid, carried out by a gang in the middle of the night.

Police followed a trail of glass from the premises, where a window had been smashed with a scaffolding pole.

An automatic cash machine containing £4,700 was stolen in the raid, which caused substantial damage at the premises as well as to two vehicles.

Spencer, of Springwater Drive, Christchurch, had denied any involvement in the break-in and claimed he had been in the area to buy drugs.

But jurors took less than two hours to return a guilty verdict.

Prosecutor Andy Houston then revealed how Spencer had appeared in court on 27 previous occasions and had convictions for 39 offences, mainly of dishonesty and motoring matters.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a charge of driving while disqualified.

The court was told how Spencer, described as being breadwinner to four children, had already been banned from driving until May 2005 following a separate case.

Recorder John Jarvis QC sentenced Spencer to five years' imprisonment with a four-year driving ban to run concurrently with his existing disqualification period.

He said the forensic evidence showed Spencer had been "intimately" involved in the raid.

"This was a professional burglary of a ghastly nature," said the judge.

"This was not opportunist; this was a pre-planned and organised and was a very serious offence in my judgement."