A gold robber likened to movie star Sylvester Stallone was jailed for seven years on Friday.

Mark Whelan, 32, of Elmore Street, Islington, was spotted behind the wheel of a getaway car and compared to the Hollywood actor by a witness because of his “swarthy appearance”.

Whelan was part of a gang who stole more than �8,000 of gold jewellery from postal workers collecting packages from gold merchants Berker Brothers, in Stoke Newington, north London, in two separate raids in 2008 and 2009.

In the first he was one of two men who attacked a postal worker with aerosol, temporarily blinding him and stole two bags of jewellery, the Old Bailey heard. More than a year later a cash-in- transit worker was accosted and sacks of jewellery stolen.

Prosecutor Sam Brown said Whelan had been spotted by a member of the public, who noted his resemblance to the Rocky and Rambo actor.

Whelan pleaded guilty to two offences, but denied a third and prosecutors accepted the pleas. Natalie Sherborn, defending, said Whelan’s limp had been caused by a serious accident which had left him out of work and in debt and ultimately forced him to turn to crime.

Judge Bernard Richmond QC jailed Whelan for seven years for the 2008 robbery and four years for the 2009 robbery, to run concurrently.