A KNIFE-WIELDING robber who terrified shop staff was jailed for nine years yesterday.

Christopher Dalziell waved a knife with a 12in blade in the faces of shop workers while demanding cash, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Then he and an accomplice threatened to "get the guns" if their demands for money were refused, said Sarah Mallett, prosecuting.

She said the heroin addict's terror spree began on February 28 when he targeted Barnacles cafe in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, at 10.20pm.

He produced a knife and demanded cash from the till, but a member of staff confronted him and he fled.

Miss Mallett said Dalziell then hit Greenfields off- licence, in Linthorpe, on March 3. Producing a knife with a 12in blade, he demanded cash.

Told there was none in the shop, he waved the knife in the shopkeeper's face before threatening to get a gun. He again left empty-handed.

Next day, at a Spar shop in Trimdon Avenue, Middlesbrough, Dalziell pointed a knife at the neck of a shop employee before stealing £200 from the till.Two shop workers ran after him and saw him get into a waiting car.

A newsagents in Kensington Road was also a target for the robber. Again wielding a knife, he made threats and stole £40. When he was arrested on March 16, he tried to hide a knife he was carrying, said Miss Mallett.

Dalziell, 25, of The Vale, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, admitted two attempted robberies, two robberies and having a bladed article in public. His accomplice has not been identified.

Chris Baker, for Dalziell, said he had been in and out of prison since he was 15 and was a heroin addict.