A father-of-two who drank a litre of vodka and 'disguised himself' with sunglasses and and a hoodie before trying to rob a betting shop has been jailed.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Alexander Sidney Cryne walked into Coral bookmakers in Great Harwood at 1pm on June 8 and immediately demanded cash from shop manager Graham Holden.

Prosecuting, Lisa Worsley said as soon as 39-year-old Cryne walked in to the shop on Queen Street Mr Holden noticed he had a plastic bag in his right hand and a curve-edged 10-inch kitchen knife in his left hand.

Ms Worsley said: "The defendant repeatedly shouted at Mr Holden 'give me all your money. Do you think I'm stupid? Give me the money'."

At that point Mr Holden hit the panic button behind the counter, which resulted in the five customers in the shop slowly making their way to the exit door.

Mr Holden himself backed off towards the panic room. As soon as he got to the door of the panic room, and Cryne realised he wasn't getting any money, the defendant left.

The court heard that Cryne then returned to his father's Great Harwood home - where he had been staying since the breakdown of his 17-year relationship with the mother of his two children - and fell asleep on the sofa. Ms Worsley said police went to that house later that same day but that was in relation to a common assault Cryne had committed on his own father. Police found the knife used in the incident on a table

It wasn't until after police had issued a CCTV appeal featuring Cryne's face -featured in the Lancashire Telegraph - that the defendant handed himself in for the attempted robbery matter.

In his victim impact statement Mr Holden said that he had left feeling shocked after the incident and that Coral had changed their policy to have two counter staff working at any one time. Ms Worsley said Mr Holden has had to buy a car because he no longer felt safe walking to work for fearing bumping into Cryne.

Cryne, Bewley Walk, Manchester, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Defending, Alison Whalley said her client had held down a responsible job as a fire sprinkler engineer for 22 years but was sacked four days prior to the armed robbery after failing a random alcohol test. She said his drinking had gotten out of control after two family members had been diagnosed with serious illnesses, which led to the breakdown of his long-term partner and being evicted from the family home.

Ms Whalley said: "He describes the offending as a cry for help."

Judge Andrew Woolman jailed Cryne for two years and eight months.