HELP! Breaking Door Open!

I have 2 weeks to solve this!

The NSF Door on my 2004 Fab vRS is totally locked shut. It had an intermittent central locking problem that meant I needed to pull the inside handle then try again with the fob and it would open. Now it is resolutely shut!

I understand I need to change the lock, but I need to get at it first. Or at least the mechanic does. One suggestion is to get at the bolt-heads in the central pillar behind the trim and cut those off, leaving (we hope) enough room to push the remainder of the bolts through and get the door open. This may not be without problems. The second is to almost certainly break the door trim and cards to get at it and those would be expensive to replace. The reason being you can't get at the bolts being covered by the dash whilst the door is closed...

...or can you?

What if I get the glovebox and the little side panel out. Would that let me? I understand however that this panel needs to be unclipped to get the glovebox out, but...

1) Even if I have to break that side panel, can I get the glovebox out without opening the door. Replacing the side panel will not be so costly as , basically, wrecking the door card and trim.

2) If I do have the glovebox out, am I likely to expose the bolts on the metal doorcard under the trim so I can get that off to access the lock.

Any help would be so very welcome, thanks