An armed raider tried to rob three convenience stores just hours after learning his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage.
David Edwards claimed a drug dealer, who he owed money to, drove him around convenience shops in Merseyside and ordered him to rob each of the premises in order to pay him back.
On every occasion, the 22-year-old walked in with the weapon and a blanket, but soon ran off empty-handed when employees raised the alarm.
Edwards claimed he was "under stress" to pay a drugs debt after taking cocaine and said he only broke the law because he was "in fear if he didn't do what he was told," Brendan Carville, defending, told Liverpool Crown Court.
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The Kirkdale man, who committed the three robberies on February 1 in the space of a few hours, carried out the raids on the second anniversary of his dad's death.
He'd also just been told his partner had lost their baby, Judge Anil Murray was told.
The first attempted robbery was at MP Food and News on Latimer Street in Vauxhall, at around 9.10pm when Edwards pointed the knife at Amirthalinghorn Likitharan, and demanded he hand over money, but the frightened worker pressed a panic button.
The second offence happened at a mini mart in Litherland when worker Suresh Tharmlingan was backed into a store room as Edwards wielded the knife, shouting: "Where's the money and the till?"
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The last attempted robbery took place at News and Wine on Cooks Road in Crosby at 10.10pm when Edwards brandished the knife at Jude Perera, but again, fled empty-handed.
The defendant handed himself in after the three raids, and admitted his crimes to detectives.
Edwards, who has no previous convictions, said he'd been high on drink and drugs on the day of the offending, and that he had a £1,500 debt and was under threat.
He claimed his creditor ordered the robberies, and told him they would come and pick him up to do the same the following day, to settle his debt.
He made sure he was not at home the following day, Edwards told to police.
All three shopkeepers said they'd been terrified by the knife raids. In a statement, one man said all he was trying to do was "make a living for my wife and children".
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Mr Carville, defending, said this was a "fall from grace so dramatically in a single day, within a single hour."
The barrister said: "I can't explain it. He's a decent young man.
"He had a debt to pay and in his desperation he saw this as a way of dealing with it."
Mr Carville said his client had written a letter of apology to the three victims and had showed "genuine remorse."
He added: "He hesitated on each of the offences. Decency prevailed and he ran out of the shop. Since being in custody his girlfriend has lost their baby."
One of the victims said, in his Victim Impact Statement, that "he thought he was going to get stabbed and he cannot work nights anymore."
"Now, I'm scared and on edge in work all the time, and I didn't sleep for a week," said prosecutor Simon Duncan, reading from one statement.
It was added: "I needed counselling for anxiety and depression.
"...I want justice for what he put me through."
Judge Murray jailed Edwards, of Kiln Lane in Kirkdale, for three years and four months, telling him he would serve half and then be released on licence.
