A REMORSEFUL robber who handed back some of the cash he stole and apologised to a postmistress for terrifying her has been jailed for four years.

Unemployed painter and decorator John Shields, 23, waved a kitchen knife at Wendy Reid and demanded: "Get me some money - I'm serious."

But when Ms Reid handed over more than £1,600, he gave her some back and told her: "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't necessary."

Shields was caught within minutes of the hold-up at Low Willington post office, in Crook, County Durham, and burst into tears when police questioned him.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that Shields was forced into the robbery by a "disastrous" financial situation that includedf mounting debts of nearly £10,000.

Defence barrister Richard Bennett said the father-of-one lost his job three months before the offence, but did not tell his family and continued to leave for "work" each morning. On June 10, when he had been promised £160 for "a bit of fiddle" work and was then not given it, Shields became desperate, said Mr Bennett.

"He was a rather proud man who had worked all the time from leaving school prior to this, and didn't have the heart or face to tell his parents or partner that he had lost his job," said the barrister. He went through this pretence every single day, leaving his partner and son behind, pretending to go out to work, trying to find jobs on a daily basis, doing small cash jobs."

Shields, of Gomer Terrace, Bishop Auckland, who admitted robbery, was "truly remorseful" and apologised to the postmistress in a letter read to the court.

It said: "I obviously know what I have done and now I have to pay for it, but I would like to write a letter to you expressing how sorry I am for the emotional distress I caused. Nobody deserves what I did to you, to be put in fear of your life while doing their daily job.

"I hope, in time, you will forgive me for what I did, but I know that will be a hard thing to do."

Shields, who had never been in trouble with the police before, was told by Judge Peter Armstrong: "I take the view that this offence is wholly out of character and the risks of harm in the future are low."

The judge ordered that Shields serve half his sentence in custody and the remainder free on licence.