A DESPERATE father who turned to a loan shark for help when his uninsured home burned to the ground was jailed for five years yesterday for robbing his local bank.

David Bruce, from Seaham, County Durham, who was hailed a hero when he saved his young children from the blaze in February, thought the only way he could escape his creditors was to commit a crime and get locked up.

So, on June 28, the 29-year-old held up Barclays bank, at Southwick, Sunderland, with a kitchen knife.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the terrified bank staff thought he had a gun, and when armed police arrested him he had £1,840 stuffed into his pockets.

When he was arrested, he said: "I didn't harm anybody. The money from the bank is in my pocket."

The court heard how Bruce had borrowed £3,000 to secure a tenancy for a home for him, his partner and their children - aged one and six.

He also needed to replace all of their possessions, which were lost in a chip-pan blaze that destroyed their home in Darwin Street, Sunderland, in February.

When Bruce realised there was a fire in the kitchen, he ran upstairs to rescue his son, Matthew, and then grab his daughter, Megan, from the living room.

Neither child was badly hurt in the blaze, and although Bruce suffered smoke inhalation, he refused hospital treatment.

Following the fire, Bruce was praised by firefighters for his quick actions.

But the home was uninsured, and within a few months of taking out a loan to cover the family's expenses, extortionate interest rates meant the debt had grown to £20,000.

The court heard how, on June 25, Bruce was stabbed in the face, abdomen and leg.

After being let out of hospital, the loan shark warned him he should give up the tenancy on the new family home and use the deposit to pay his debt.

Meanwhile, unemployed Bruce was stripped of everything he owned, including children's videos and television.

The court heard that Bruce thought his girlfriend and children would be safer if he was not around.

It was then that he decided to get arrested for holding up the bank.

Robert Adams, prosecuting, said that during the robbery Bruce showed a cashier the handle of the knife, which she believed was a gun.

Mr Adams added: "This is an extremely odd case, to put it mildly."

Bruce, of Plymouth Close, Seaham, County Durham, admitted robbery. His only previous conviction was for having no television licence.

Defence barrister Tony Davis said Bruce should have been picking up a bravery award this week for his actions during the blaze.

He said: "There can be no more evidence needed by the court. This was but a genuine, desperate attempt to remove himself from the reaches of the loan shark, his thinking being that if he was remanded into custody the loan shark would not force his girlfriend to give up the tenancy."

Mr Davis said that after the raid, Bruce's girlfriend left him and he has not seen the children for four months.

Judge Guy Whitburn sentenced him to five years in prison.

He said: "The background to this particular offence is bizarre in the extreme.

"In order to get yourself locked up, you went and committed this extremely serious robbery.