A man who attempted to rob a bookies wearing a bin bag on his face and pretending to conceal a weapon under a crisp packet has been jailed.
Jimmy Dungey walked into the Coral Bookies on on West Auckland Road in Darlington, on the afternoon of May 28, Teesside Live reports.
The 36-year-old then approached and raised his right hand towards the cashier who "froze in fear", as she believed he could have a weapon under the pink crisp packet.
The defendant then shouted "I'm being serious, put everything in the bag", however a manager quickly intervened and told him: "f*** off" before sounding the emergency alarm.
Once he realised the alarm had been pressed, Dungey was heard to say, "Oh f***" and walked out of the shop door.
Dungey was wearing a baseball cap, and teamed with the bin bag, he had most of his face covered during the attempted hold-up which lasted less than 30 seconds, and was captured on CCTV.
On Thursday, prosecutor Jenny Haigh told a judge at Teesside Crown Court that Dungey had made, "cunning use of his crisp packet" during the attempted robbery and ten minutes earlier, he had stolen from the Co-op. At 3.55pm, Dungey had wandered into the shop a few doors down from the bookies, and eaten, "a pack of Belgian eclairs", before leaving.
Moments later, he went back in and helped himself to an ice cream. Dungey, of no fixed abode, refused to answer police questions but pleaded guilty to the two thefts and to the attempted robbery.
The court heard that he has 43 previous convictions for 93 offences - which mainly involved petty shoplifting. He had been released from an eight week prison sentence for shop lifting, shortly before he carried out the attempted robbery.
In a statement, the cashier at Corals said: "I've worked for this company for six years and nothing like this has ever happened before. I genuinely thought he was going to rob us. I was scared of what he might have hiding under his crisp packet."
James Fenny, defending, said that Dungey's family have since stepped in to help him, and that he was homeless at the time of the offence. His own mother had said that he had had "no chance" due to problems during his upbringing. Dungey had left school with no qualifications but is now aiming for a drug-free existence.
Judge Chris Smith told Dungey, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Hull, that it was, "a very short lived attempt at robbery, which was over in a matter of seconds. It doesn't appear to have been in any way planned."
Dungey was handed an 18-month prison sentence.
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