WOULD-BE robbers got cold feet when they failed in their bid to snatch cash from a post office.

Kenneth Richardson and Michael Gibson burst into the post office in Barnard Castle, County Durham, carrying baseball bats and demanding money from the till.

Durham Crown Court heard yesterday how an assistant pressed a button which locked the till, so the pair asked for money from a safe.

But they were told there was nothing there and, when a customer entered the post office, the duo decided to give up the raid and fled the Galgate premises.

Tim Gittins, prosecuting, said the pair, from Birtley, near Gateshead, made off in Gibson's Ford Sierra car, but police caught up with them in West Auckland, and they were arrested.

Richardson, 25, of George Street, and 26-year-old Gibson, of Highridge, both admitted attempted robbery on January 30, and were each jailed for four years.

A further six months was added to Richardson's sentence for a break-in at Barnard Castle Jewellers, last October, in which a large quantity of silver items was taken.

Gibson was sentenced to a further three months for breaching a previous motoring disqualification by using his car in the getaway from the post office.

Jamie Adams, for Gibson, and Paul Cross, for Richardson, said the couple were heroin users who were seeking cash to pay for the drug.