A HEROIN addict attempted to rob a disabled man of cash takings as he made his to a bank.

Darren Peter Walsh, 25, grabbed the cash bag containing £750, and struggled to prise it from his victim's grasp, Durham Crown Court was told.

In the melee that followed, the man fell but tried to hang on to Walsh, who back-heeled him in the face. The 25-year-old then ran from the scene, in High Street, at Langley Moor, near Durham, with passers-by in pursuit.

Stephen Duffield, prosecuting, said that in his bid to escape, Walsh dropped the cash bag and it was recovered with the money intact.

Walsh was recognised and subsequently arrested by police.

The court heard the incident took place in March, just six days after Walsh was released on bail following his arrest for burglary of a house in Garden Avenue, Framwellgate Moor, Durham.

Walsh, of Browning Hill, Coxhoe, near Durham, admitted charges of robbery and burglary and was yesterday jailed for a total of three years and ten months.

Paul Sloan, mitigating, said Walsh, previously a window cleaner and rail worker, "went rapidly downhill" after taking heroin.