THE courage of a teenage girl foiled a balaclava-clad post office robber, armed with a baseball bat, and sent him fleeing empty-handed, York Youth Court heard.

Justices applauded her actions after hearing how she remained calm, despite fearing that he would hit her with the bat.

Prosecutor Vivienne Walsh said the robber demanded: "Give me all your money," of the teenage shop assistant at Rufforth Post Office and hit its cash till so hard its drawer shot open. The assistant refused and shut the drawer.

"I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of getting away with it," she later told police.

She alerted the robber that another member of staff had just come into the shop and he fled empty-handed.

Mrs Walsh said the shop staff pursued him and the assistant later gave police a detailed description of the robber. She told officers he had been in the post office earlier the same day with other youths.

Outside the shop, a girl who had seen the raider put on the balaclava before going into the post office, alerted her father who gave chase. Police later found the robber hiding behind a field hedgerow a mile away.

A 16-year-old York boy pleaded guilty to attempted robbery on August 31. Justices gave him a 12-month detention and training order, saying that anyone who robbed a post office should be locked up, whatever their age. They also ordered him to receive intensive supervision and surveillance on his release.

"We would like to commend the shop assistant who deserves our high recommendation for the work that she did in the shop and the way she proceeded in identification afterwards," said senior justice Richard Britton, sitting with two justices. They also commended the girl outside the shop and her father for not turning a blind eye "as so many people do".

Mrs Walsh said the boy had planned the raid for three or four weeks, including buying the balaclava hat and baseball bat.

For the boy, Jane Maloney said he had confessed his crime to police and had showed remorse. He came from a troubled background and had been influenced by his peers.

Updated: 10:46 Wednesday, October 09, 2002