London - A blundering masked gunman was rumbled when his voice was recognised by the barmaid he was robbing.
Luke Jones, 29, stormed into his local snooker club armed with a replica handgun as she cashed up late at night.
But he was recognised by the barmaid and she asked him: ‘Why are you doing this to me, Luke?’
Yvette Smith was so terrified that Jones took off his mask to give her a hug. He was caught on CCTV as he consoled Miss Smith and put his gun down on the bar.
Jones lived near the club in Bargoed, South Wales, and was a regular customer, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
He stormed in at 11.15pm on December 27 just as Miss Smith was closing up.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards said: ‘He had pointed the gun at her head. She believed it was real.’
When she became distraught and called him by his name he took off his mask to console her and told her it wasn’t a real gun and that he was ‘only joking’, the court heard. He took it apart to show her it was a BB gun.
In a statement, Miss Smith said: ‘I was absolutely petrified. I honestly thought I was going to be killed. I do not know if I can ever work in the bar again.’
Jones then fled the Bargoed Snooker Club and hid in the attic of his father’s home only a few hundred yards away. He was arrested there.
He admitted attempted robbery, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possession of cannabis.
He also admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply and possession of an offensive weapon five months earlier.
Edward Mitchard, defending, said the ‘farcical’ raid was a bid to fund Jones’s drug habit. Jones was jailed for eight years.