A 30-year-old man has started a 12-year prison sentence for two armed robberies at the same post office.

Paul Verrall was told by a judge that he only had to recall the effect of the raids on victims to realise what a “dangerous desperado” he was.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how postmistress Pritti Chotai found herself being confronted by the same man brandishing a gun twice in 10 months.

The terrifying image of Verrall stayed firmly in her mind and she had no trouble later identifying him.

In the first robbery at the Davis Estate post office and newsagents in Shirley Avenue, Chatham, on November 28 2003, Verrall walked up to the counter with what appeared to be a real handgun.

He forced pensioner Joan Ibbotson to her knees with the gun held at her head. The weapon was then pointed at Mrs Chotai.

Verrall demanded money and pushed a bag under the counter. She filled it with cash, but he demanded more. He eventually fled with £3,510 and was last seen disappearing into Vale Drive.

In an almost carbon copy, on September 30 last year he again walked up to the counter and held the gun to the head pensioner Jacqueline Miles.

Mrs Chotai again found herself looking down the barrel of a gun and face to face with Verrall.

He ran off with £5,400, chased by Mrs Chotai’s husband Raj. Verrall took the same route into Vale Drive, where Clive Winstone and his wife Louise Willy were driving in their car.

Believing Verrall was a shoplifter and not realising he had a gun, Mr Winstone, a part-time doorman, stopped and also gave chase.

Both he and Mr Chotai had the gun pointed at them and were told: “I will ****** use it.” They backed off in fear a number of times and the robber eventually escaped.

Verrall went to Snodhurst Avenue, where he was staying in a flat below his parents’ house. In between the two robberies he was living in Bournemouth.

He was arrested at the flat almost a month later. Among the items seized was an imitation gun.

After the cash was stolen the second time, Verrall was seen with large amounts. He deposited £800 into a bank account and paid debts and bought items such as a new stereo.

Verrall, of Tytherley Green, Bournemouth, denied two charges of robbery, two of possessing a firearm with criminal intent and two of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The jury took almost two-and-a-half hours to convict him of all charges.

Peter Alcock, prosecuting, said Verrall had previous convictions for stealing from his mother June, theft from his employer, forging worksheets and making off without payment.

Robert Flach, defending, told Judge Warwick McKinnon: “There is nothing I can usefully say.”

The judge told Verrall, who had been on bail, that the robberies were obviously planned.

“It is quite clear from evidence I have heard that you gave no thought at all to your victims. In each case, you grabbed an elderly member of the public and pointed a gun at their heads, all for the purpose of obtaining as much money as you could.

“Such acts of instilling terror into innocent members of the public by the commission of armed robbery will not be tolerated by society or the courts and deterrent sentences will have to be passed.”

Judge McKinnon added: “One only has to recall the effect of your actions, in particular on Mr Winstone, Miss Willy and Mr Chotai to realise what a dangerous desperado you were and are.”

Verrall was jailed for 10 years for the armed robberies and two years consecutive for two of the firearms offences.