A FORMER council leader picked up a 4ft drain rod to fend off a masked robber wielding a machete, a court was told this week.

Eric Turner arrived at his family-run sub-post office in Hamsterley Colliery, near Consett, to find two masked men threatening his wife, Enid, 56, and their daughter Angela Smith, 35.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 71-year-old used the rod to push Thomas Michael Reay off a counter he had been standing on.

Reay and masked accomplice Robert Ingham, who was armed with a knife, fled with £2,000.

The pair escaped in a stolen car, where Ingham's mask was found. Reay's fingerprint was found on a glass panel.

Reay, 21, from Newcastle, was jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of holding up the store on January 2 last year. He had denied robbery.

Ingham, 28, of Derwent Crescent Estate, Hamsterley Colliery, was previously jailed for six-and-a-half years after admitting robbery.

Last night, Coun Turner, a former chairman of Derwentside District Council, said: "In this day and age, 13 years is more than you would expect. However, if you are on the receiving end, there's no sentence long enough.

"Only people who have been through something like this know what it is like. I am very bitter about it. I have never done anything to anybody. As a councillor I have bent over backwards to do everything I can for the people of this area.''

Alec Burns, prosecuting, said Reay had pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at a Newcastle jeweller's two days after the post office raid.

He said three masked men forced the door of Kopecky and Elliott, in Collingwood Street, as owner Richard Elliott was placing items in the window. One of them beat him with a truncheon.

Mr Elliott managed to seize the truncheon and struck Reay on the head. He retaliated by punching Mr Elliott in the face. The three fled empty-handed, but left the truncheon, which had Reay's blood on it. He was traced through DNA.

Mr Burns said Reay had an extensive criminal record including two further robberies, one of which involved violence against a taxi driver. He had 416 days of unexpired licence to serve from a previous sentence.

Shaun Routledge, for Reay, said his client was a 'professional criminal' but was undertaking courses and work in prison.

Judge Peter Bowers jailed Reay for 12 years and ordered him to serve one year of outstanding licence, consecutively. He placed Reay on an extended licence period of five years on his release.