A 25-YEAR-OLD who made a man go to the bank and hand over £1,500 while threatening him with a knife has been jailed for eight years.

Derby Crown Court heard Gareth Pipes carried out the offence on the 47-year-old man in High Street, Swadlincote, on September 14 last year.

A month later, he used a knife to threaten a 53-year-old man at his Hartshorne home to hand over his giro. The court heard the victim managed to escape unharmed.

Pipes, of Chatsworth Road, Newhall, admitted false imprisonment, blackmail, robbery and having a knife in public.