KNIFE-WIELDING robber Lee Bartlett terrified cashier Karen Hoggard so much, she shook with fear when she saw his face some days later, York Crown Court heard.

The 24-year-old threatened her with a 15cm blade in Costcutter's Chapelfields store in York and demanded "I want money from the till now," said prosecutor Alan Mitcheson.

But when she backed away, he grabbed the till's keyboard instead of its cash, and fled.

The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, jailed Bartlett for four years.

He told the bungling robber he had nearly locked him up indefinitely as a menace to society.

"You set out to rob and did rob a vulnerable woman in a small shop and she was terrified," he said.

Bartlett, of Foxwood Lane, Acomb, York, pleaded guilty to robbery.

His barrister, Alex Semple, said Bartlett had been binge-drinking in the hours leading up to the raid because his pregnant girlfriend had told him she would abort their child.

Mr Mitcheson said Bartlett posed as a customer buying gloves at 8pm on November 28.

But when he got to the till he pulled a knife on the cashier and demanded money.

When he fled with the keyboard, staff contacted police and gave them the robber's name and description.

He was arrested in the neighbourhood the next morning.

The keyboard and knife have never been found.

Both Ms Hoggard and another member of staff picked him out of a video ID parade.

When Ms Hoggard saw his face on the video screen, she visibly shook.

Bartlett, who has numerous previous convictions, carried out the raid within days of being fined by magistrates.

Mr Semple said the robbery was not premeditated and was out of character.

His girlfriend's announcement earlier that day had led to their relationship breaking up acrimoniously and him hitting the bottle.

He had had a drink problem since he was 17, drinking up to two bottles of vodka a day.

When he was remanded for the crime, he had had hallucinations and shakings and had voluntarily sought alcohol counselling.

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, January 10, 2006