THESE are the dramatic images that show a brave shop manager turn the tables on a bumbling robber – fending him off with his own weapon.

Today he is back behind bars after being handed a four-year sentence at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Daniel Holland was on licence after being released from prison less than eight years into a life sentence for a spate of robberies when he attempted to raid Tesco Express in West Moors.

Bournemouth Echo:

But the hapless criminal – who left a serrated knife outside the store and instead took a polythene tube covered with a plastic bag with him – was foiled when he not only took off his balaclava midway through the attempt, but allowed the manager to take the pipe away from him and hit him with it.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Stuart Ellacott said the 58-year-old, of Station Road, struck as a female employee opened the shop doors just before 5.30am.

“The defendant was wearing a black woollen beanie pulled down over his face with two eye-holes cut out,” he said.

“There was an object in his hand which we now know was a polythene tube covered in a plastic bag.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Holland was sentenced to life behind bars, with a minimum term of five years, in 2005 following a series of similar robberies.

He was released after less than eight years, but Leslie Smith, mitigating, said the defendant had warned that he hadn’t received enough help to combat a serious gambling addiction.

“He managed to abstain from gambling for around only six to eight weeks [after being released], and then he gambled away his pension and all the savings in his account,” the barrister said.

Bournemouth Echo:

“[On the day of the incident] The knife was never produced or brandished, he removed his balaclava himself halfway through, he didn’t resist when the manager took the pipe off him and then they beat him with it and all he does is walk out.”

Holland pleaded guilty to attempting to commit robbery and having an article with a blade or point during the incident on March 14 this year at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He was sentenced to four years behind bars, although a parole board will decide if he is fit to be released again after that time.

Bournemouth Echo:

Bournemouth Echo: