POLICE were lying in wait as a four-man gang attempted to carry out a well planned night-time post office break-in.

Officers were tipped off about the attempt to smash through walls to gain access to the strong room and safe at the post office in Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland.

Durham Crown Court was told a dozen officers hid on the premises on the night of January 23 this year, while others kept observation on the rear yard.

The court heard that at about 12.48am the following morning, they arrested three of the four gang members as they prepared to break-in via the rear yard.

Although one broke free and escaped, the court was told DNA tests on an abandoned balaclava mask revealed it had been worn by 38-year-old Clifford Howe.

He was subsequently arrested and appeared in court with two accomplices detained at the scene, Daniel Robinson, 36, and 32-year-old Darren Collins.

Yesterday, all three men were jailed for two-and-a-half years, for what the prosecution described as, "a professional, calculated and meticulously planned offence".

Julian Smith, prosecuting, said a Ford pick-up truck, stolen earlier in the evening from a nearby council depot, was recovered by police near the post office.

Mr Smith said the vehicle was to have been used to carry away the safe if the raid had been successful.

The fourth member of the gang remains at large after making good his escape in a getaway vehicle, a Ford Granada, which had also stolen from nearby that evening.

Police also recovered two radios and receivers, a concrete flagstone, a pump device to force walls and the balaclava from near the scene.

In mitigation, Gordon Lakin, for Howe, told the court: "It was professionally organised, although it wasn't professionally carried out. But such was the way that it was handled by the authorities that 50 per cent of those involved escaped."

Howe, of Woodside, Witton Park; Robinson, of Ashcroft Gardens, Bishop Auckland; and Collins, of Dunelm Chare, Escomb; each admitted attempted burglary of the post office.