A pathetic knifeman begged a female shopkeeper to let him go when she grabbed his arm during a botched robbery.
Cocaine and heroin fuelled Graeme Hughes produced a blade at Best-One convenience store in Mill Lane, Wallasey.
But the woman - the wife of the shop owner - who was working alone stacking shelves at the time, was having none of it.
Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that masked Hughes, who was holding a six-inch flick knife in his right hand, ordered: "Open the till and give me the money."
She said: "Perhaps quite unusually your honour, the complainant's instinct was in fact to unusually take hold of the defendant's right hand to prevent him moving the weapon. She maintained holding this hand to push him towards the front door.
"The defendant in fact was pleading for her to let him go at this stage and she managed to push him through the door and out into the street."
Hughes, 55, of Portland Court, New Brighton, was then seen to get into a parked car and speed off, at around 1.25pm on October 12 last year.
A regular customer, who saw the victim looking frightened, managed to take down the registration and police were called to the scene.
Officers identified the car as belonging to Hughes and when they went to his address, recovered CCTV from the street, which showed him getting out of the vehicle, now minus the protective face mask he had worn earlier.
When police searched his home and arrested him they found two "flick knives", but he gave a "no comment" interview.
The shopkeeper - who was not named in court - said the raid left her afraid of customers she didn't know who entered the store wearing face masks, as everyone now does during the pandemic.
Hughes, who admitted attempted robbery and possessing a knife in public, has 20 previous convictions for 31 offences.
They include drug possession, criminal damage, driving offences and assaults, but he was last sentenced in June 2010.
Martine Snowdon, defending, accepted the failed raid would have been "distressing and alarming for anyone who witnessed it."
She said Hughes took his own car and while there was planning involved as he brought a knife, "there was no determined attempt to conceal his identity, over and above the fact he was wearing a mask that he had to be wearing".
Ms Snowdon said Hughes had not done anything like this before and the violence on his record was largely domestic violence, in a relationship more than 10 years ago.
She said Hughes, who had kept out of trouble for a decade and had stopped abusing alcohol, was "thoroughly ashamed".
Find your nearest vaccination centre by using your postcode below
Ms Snowdon said Hughes was diagnosed with "chronic psychiatric illness" and possible schizophrenia, but at the time hadn't been taking his medication and was abusing heroin and cocaine, so he had to take responsibility for his mental health being "out of control".
She added that he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2018, had undergone electrocardiograms recently because of concerns over his blood pressure, was awaiting a CT scan for lumps discovered and had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Ms Snowdon said Hughes, who was now drug free, also suffered the "emotional trauma" of discovering in 2019 that the person he thought was his dad was not his father and had battled agoraphobia.
She argued that his psychiatric issues - including the self-reported hearing of voices - "inevitably had a part to play" in his crimes.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, accepted Hughes had worn a "coronavirus mask" rather than a "robber's mask" during the "frightening" incident.
However, he told Hughes he was "hiding behind" the mask, "worn by law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and protect others", which he said was "in an endeavour to protect your identity" and the sentence must therefore include "some element of deterrence".
He said: "Having produced the knife, courageously your victim after you had told her to open the till and give you the money, took hold of your right hand.
"She then pushed you and it was you in truth who were pleading with her to let you go."
The judge said Hughes stated in a psychiatric report that he was "suffering from auditory hallucinations", which is why he carried out the raid, and would be sentenced on that basis, but had taken the "wilful decision" not to take his medication and to abuse Class A drugs.
Can you help us keep Merseyside covered?
Jailing Hughes for three years and four months, Judge Aubrey said: "The location in the court's judgment is particularly relevant.
"Proprietors of small shops must be protected by the courts.
"They fulfill an invaluable service and in particular in my judgement they fulfill an invaluable service during the periods that society has had to face in consequence of the pandemic."
For the latest news and breaking news visit http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/.
Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @LivECHONews - the official Liverpool ECHO Twitter account - real news in real time.
We're also on Facebook/theliverpoolecho - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Liverpool ECHO.
