Quick-thinking staff managed to trap a robber who claimed to have a gun inside the post office he was trying to rob.
Michael McCann had waited patiently in a queue for the post office counter before presenting his card and asking to withdraw money and close his account, which had less than £2 in it.
As he was handed the cash, he calmly and chillingly told the woman behind the counter: "Don't shut the till, I've got a gun."
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The worker at the Post Office on Station Road, Hebburn, working behind an open counter due to not being able to hear face-mask wearing customers in the secure area, thought he was joking until he repeated his demand.
Kevin Wardlaw, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court : "Although no gun was displayed, he had both hands in his pockets, giving the impression he was in possession of a firearm.
"She thought 'God he has got a gun and is going to pull a gun out'.
"She was in a state of panic and didn't know what to do. She had thousands of pounds.
"She decided to make a run for it round towards the fortress counter close to it and made colleagues aware of what had been said."
Staff sought refuge in a store room but the manageress had a cunning plan.
Mr Wardlaw said: "She feared for the safety of staff and decided to leave by a side door, ran round to the front door and secured it, thereby locking the defendant in.
"Staff had activated a fog machine which covered the interior of the post office with dry ice.
"Instead of trying to leave, the defendant was putting his hands through trying to get to the till.
"He was trapped and the police arrived and arrested him."
The lady who was working behind the post office counter said she was left in "utter shock".
She added: "I was absolutely terrified for myself and everyone else in the shop.
"I remember thinking he might have a gun even though I didn't see one.
"I have kids and all sorts went through my mind."
The manageress was left "shocked and shaking" and said she was concerned for the safety of staff.
McCann, 37, of no fixed address, who has 60 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery on November 30 last year and was jailed for 32 months.
The court heard he did not have a gun and it was his mobile phone that was in his pocket.
But Judge Tim Gittins told him: "They had no way of knowing whether your threat was a genuine one and whether you had a weapon on you that could take their lives.
"The manageress, with remarkable composure and bravery, decided to go round to the front of the shop and lock you in it."
Nick Lane, defending, said: "He committed it on impulse.
"He needed money to buy drugs and this was the best way of achieving that at that particular time.
"He recognises this would have been alarming and caused upset to the members of staff and he wishes for me to apologise to them on his behalf."
