A HOODED drunk who carried out a "ham-fisted" attempt to rob a late-night shop using a gun-shaped cigarette lighter has been jailed for a year.

James Irven later claimed the bungled raid was a practical joke, but a judge yesterday told him that he had terrified store assistant William Smith.

Irven - a regular customer at the shop, yards from his home in Hartlepool - threatened to shoot Mr Smith unless he handed over cigarettes.

He also pointed the imitation pistol at two women behind him in the queue at the night-time hatch and told them to back off.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Irven's menacing mood changed when Mr Smith told him his robbery bid was being filmed on security cameras.

Martina Connolly, prosecuting, said the would-be raider became more light-hearted and told the three witnesses the weapon was just a lighter.

Irven promised Mr Smith, 47, that he would not shoot and began to walk away from the shop, in Raby Road, talking to the two women.

The court heard that 36-year-old Irven handed himself in to police the following day when he sobered up and realised what he had done.

Rachael Ramez, mitigating, said Irven suffered from serious alcohol problems and committed the offence in "drunken stupidity".

She said: "His impulsive actions and erratic thinking are what have led to the commission of this offence. He is a man who would not ordinarily get involved in behaviour like this."

Irven, of Middleton Road, admitted attempted robbery, possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and possessing an imitation firearm at the time of committing an offence, on July 10.

Judge John Evans said the offence was so serious that a suspended sentence was insufficient, but told Irven he would have been jailed for longer if he had not handed himself in.

"You took a realistic-looking weapon with you," the judge told him. "It is not difficult to see what fear was experienced by Mr Smith and the other people who were there.

"You say that it was more in the way of a prank. But, if it was, you went about it in an extremely odd way, because Mr Smith, having met your demands with a refusal, you persisted in that attempt to rob for some time.

"It was only when you realised he was not going to play along with this and hand over the cigarettes, and that you were on CCTV, that you then tried to turn it into a joke.

"It was a pretty ham-fisted effort given that you were, in fact, known to Mr Smith as a customer of the shop. You were never going to gain access to the shop in the event of him refusing your demands it was inevitable that you would walk away empty-handed."