AN ARMED robber who was sent packing by a woman shopkeeper with a bigger knife than his was jailed for three years today.

Brian Magor, 31, claimed that he was forced into robbing a newsagent's shop in Brotton, east Cleveland, armed with a three inch knife.

But the newsagent, 65-year-old Marjorie Garner, in a response echoing big screen hero Crocodile Dundee when faced with muggers in New York, threatened him with a ten-inch blade which she was using to remove staples from magazines. Magor fled emptyhanded.

He admitted he was the knifeman wearing a white balaclava, but he pleaded not guilty to attempted robbery - claiming that he was under duress.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court took nearly five hours to find him guilty by a majority of 11 to 1.

Judge Michael Taylor said that he accepted that Magor, who had a low intelligence, had been put up to it, but he said he knew what he was doing on November 8, 2000 when he walked into Garner's newsagents in Errington Street, Brotton, with a knife.

Marjorie who has run her newsagent's business for 25 years refused to open the till for him responded: "You're not getting any money, I'll stick this in you if you come any nearer".

Her daughter Lynne, 41, who was further along the counter at the Lottery machine, said: "Her knife was bigger than his. "At first I thought it was a joke but he had his knife held out at arm's length with the blade pointing towards her head". Magor's girlfriend, who is expecing their baby in October, broke down weeping in court when he was led away.