A masked robber held-up staff and customers during two terrifying bank raids – with a litter picker disguised as a handgun.

Darren Foster, of Norris Road, Blacon, left cashiers and customers fearing for their lives when he brandished the weapon in banks in Llandudno Junction and Middlewich, threatening to shoot them if they didn’t handover bags full of cash.

But when dozens of armed police surrounded the get-away vehicle following a high-speed chase on the M62, police discovered the suspected handgun was actually a litter picker wrapped in a carrier bag.

Today (Monday) the  41-year-old was jailed for 10 years following the armed robberies which saw him make-off with more than £10,500 in cash before being captured following a series of blunders.

Foster was arrested by police after his house key covered in DNA fell out of his pocket during the first robbery at Barclays Bank in Llandudno Junction, on March 27 this year.

Less than a month later - whilst on police bail - he was arrested again after a cashier placed bags of dye in with the stolen cash during a robbery at NatWest in Middlewich – causing orange smoke to billow behind him as he fled on a push bike down the High Street towards his get-away car.

Co-defendant James Jago, 32, of Netherley in Merseyside, was jailed for six years and eight months for his role as driver in the robberies during the hearing at Chester Crown Court.

James Jago was jailed for more than six years
James Jago was jailed for more than six years

At just after 2.20pm on March 27 staff and customers were left terrified after Foster entered the Barclays branch in Llandudno Junction wearing a black neck warmer over his face and began brandishing the pretend gun which was wrapped in a carrier bag, the court heard.

“The defendant pointed the imitation firearm towards (the customer) and he heard him say ‘put the money in this bag or I will shoot, I'm not messing about’,” said Simon Parry, prosecuting.

“In his hand he had a white plastic carrier bag which appeared to be in the shape of a handgun.”

Foster demanded cash from a female cashier, pointing the weapon in her face. Fearing for her customers' safety she managed to activate the alarm before filling two carrier bags full of cash totalling around £5,500.

He also stole £1,000 from a male customer who had been depositing it at the desk and fled the scene leaving the female cashier ‘shaking like a leaf’, said Mr Parry.

Jago, who was spotted driving the getaway car, was arrested two days later at Golden Gate Caravan Park in Towyn.

But Foster was only captured after forensic officers discovered a house key which had dropped out of his pocket during the robbery – it was covered in his DNA.

Both men were bailed by police, but less than a month later on June 6 they targeted the Nat West bank in Middlewich with Foster threatening staff with the same weapon and stealing £5,015 of cash.

But Foster, who fled the scene on a push bike, was traced by police after quick-thinking staff placed bags of orange dye among the cash causing orange smoke to billow out from behind him as he made his raced away from the scene.

And when armed police surrounded the vehicle later the night on the M56 near Widnes, officers were surprised to find the weapon was not a gun but a litter picker.

“When Foster got out of the vehicle a plastic bag containing cash fell from his lap covered in dye and another containing the weapon,” said Mr Parry.

“As soon as police saw the bag they shouted ‘weapon’, but it was in fact a litter picker wrapped in plastic.”

Foster, who was jailed in January 1997 for 10 years for a robbery at the TSB bank in Hoole and has 20 convictions for 61 offences, and Jago, who has nine convictions for 21 offences, both grinned as the true nature of the weapon was revealed to the court.

Foster pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of an imitation firearm, and two counts of robbery. While Jago pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of possession of an imitation firearm – they were both given credit for their guilty pleas.

Defending Foster – who was on licence from prison when he committed the crimes – Simon Mills, said his client had a serious drug problem and described his life as ‘nothing short of a disaster’, with his partner and children leaving him following the arrest and argued that not everyone in the bank believed the weapon was really a gun.

Defending father-of-three Jago, Michael Davies said his client was a recovering cocaine addict who was anxious to lead a better life and become a ‘great father’ to his new born daughter.

Sentencing the pair, Judge David Hale said: “You decided the easy way to get money to pay off various debts and lifestyle preferences was to steal from banks. You had no thought for the damage it might do to the people who happened to be in the bank or who were working there.”