A BID by the Attorney General to increase a jail term imposed on a Tyneside man who robbed a doctor at knifepoint failed at London's Criminal Appeal Court yesterday.

Stewart Jonathan West, 30, of Cotswold Drive, North Shields, held a knife to the terrified GP's chest after his pregnant heroin-user girlfriend was refused medication, the court heard.

The doctor, who described the incident as the worst experience in his medical career, was forced to hand over tablets during the ordeal.

West admitted false imprisonment and robbery at Newcastle Crown Court in April and was jailed for 30 months.

He had to serve a further 166 days in jail because he breached the licence of a previous jail term.

Yesterday, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, dismissed a plea by the Attorney General that the original sentence was "unduly lenient".