A robber terrified staff at two betting shops with an imitation firearm - because he wanted to be sent back to prison, a court heard.

Brett Mullan had only been out of jail a few days when he raided Coral bookmakers in King Street, Gravesend, on December 23 last year.

The 40-year-old criminal did not even bother to wear a disguise and was leaning on a crutch when he held up the bookies with what turned out to be a walking stick inside a carrier bag.

Five days, later he carried out a similar robbery at another Coral in Bexley.

When arrested, Mullan, of Christianfields, Gravesend, told police he wanted to return to jail because he had come out to find his partner was with another man and he had nowhere to live.

He was granted his wish and sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting two offences of robbery and two of possessing an imitation firearm.

James Bilsland, prosecuting, said Mullan walked into the Gravesend shop, tapped trainee assistant manager Victoria Gordon on the elbow and told her: 'Don’t look or I will shoot.'

He then approached deputy manager Jane Barnett, pushed something into her stomach that felt like a tube and demanded money.

She noticed he had strange eyes, the court heard. She went to the tills and handed over about £360. He also took a walkie talkie and left.

Coral in Gravesend was held up in a raid by Brett Mullan

On December 28, Mullan went into Coral in Bexley and pointed an object wrapped in a carrier bag at deputy manager Michael Ward.

He demanded: "Hand over all of the cash or I will shoot you." He left with just under £1,000.

Mr Bilsland said Mullan and another man went towards Bexley railway station and took a taxi to Dartford.

He was tracked down through CCTV in the betting shop and a nearby pub, where he had been before the raid "to get Dutch courage".

Mullan, who is blind in one eye and suffers from diabetes, was recalled to serve the remainder of a five-year sentence imposed at Blackfriars Crown Court in April 2007 for robbery.

Danny Robinson, defending, told the court: "He had virtually nothing, so he decided to commit these offences so he would go back into prison."