A POST Office robber whose raid sparked an armed siege in a York street was today starting six years in jail.

Armed police surrounded a house in Garfield Terrace, off Leeman Road, in a vain attempt to catch Richard Gerald Campbell, 32, last November.

York Crown Court heard that at about 4.15pm he covered his face with a hat, entered Bright Street Post Office with a metallic weapon, and demanded: "Give me all your money".

"Not bloody likely!", replied postmistress Christine Wadding-ton and pushed the panic button. Campbell fled, but not before her husband Duncan had pulled off the robber's hat and she had recognised him. He was arrested two days later.

The robber was on bail at the time for mugging Big Issue seller Paul Burwell twice at his pitch outside Marks & Spencer in Parliament Street, York, and stealing his takings.

"They were only very small sums of £35 and £20 but they must have been very significant indeed to Mr Burwell," said Recorder Roger Thorn QC.

He jailed Campbell for six years.

The robber, of no fixed address, who once lived in Brailsford Crescent, Clifton, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and two muggings.

Mrs Waddington described the weapon as a cylinder at least six inches long.

Campbell's barrister, Chris Tehrani, said he had not used it to threaten anyone and the post office raid had been a spur-of-the- moment matter.

All the robberies were to fund his heroin habit which he had had for years.

York Crown Court heard that two or three men took part in each street mugging and that one of them, not Campbell, used a knife.

Mr Burwell gave evidence that the knifeman was Campbell's brother, Alastair, and alleged that he robbed him on six more occasions between June and September 2001 and attempted to rob him on September 8. On each occasion, small amounts were allegedly taken.

Alastair Campbell, 34, of Garfield Terrace, York, denied eight charges of robbery and one of attempted robbery.

He told a York jury that although he had approached Mr Burwell on a couple of occasions, he had not robbed him. On September 8, he had punched him three times because he was angry about the Big Issue seller's claims that he was a robber.

After three hours, the jury unanimously acquitted Alastair Campbell on all charges. They heard that both Mr Burwell and the older brother had used heroin at times in 2001.

Updated: 11:16 Friday, May 24, 2002