A ROBBER who raided two banks armed with a toy gun, which was wrapped in gaffer tape, will not have his minimum term behind bars extended.

Jason Ryan Mark Jarvis, who already had previous for robbing banks, targeted Barclays and TSB in Bournemouth town centre over a six-day period in December 2019.

Jarvis, 49, admitted two charges of robbery, two counts of having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and a single attempted theft allegation.

At a Winchester Crown Court sentencing hearing on June 2, Judge Robert Pawson handed the offender a life term of imprisonment with a minimum of six years and two months in jail.

Following the hearing, a request was made to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to consider whether an appeal could be launched under the unduly lenient sentence scheme to try to get the sentenced extended.

However, Solicitor General Lucy Frazer QC MP decided against taking the case to the Court of Appeal.

A spokesperson for the AGO said: “A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

"The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.”

As reported, Jarvis entered TSB shortly after 2pm when there was a man and a woman working on December 18, 2019.

The robber approached the counter with a scarf over his mouth and nose and presented a note to the male bank employee which said: “This is an armed robbery. I have a gun. Give me all the notes or I will shoot. Do not raise the alarm until I am gone.”

The staff member thought it was some kind of joke, but the defendant said: “I will show you how serious I am.”

Prosecutor Simon Jones said the defendant then grabbed the female staff member, who was stood nearby, and put her in a headlock.

He then fled the scene, but police were called to the Mary Shelley pub nearby later that day to a report that a puffer jacket, sunglasses and the imitation firearm had been discovered in a bin in the men’s toilets.

Footage from the pub showed Jarvis leaving the premises in different clothes to the ones he entered in.

He was arrested the next day but denied any offending, answering mostly no comment.

Five days earlier, on December 13, he had tried to steal a charity collection tin from the post office in Bournemouth but a member of staff retrieved the tin before he could leave the scene.

Jarvis, who had 32 previous convictions for 131 offences, including robberies involving imitation firearms, went into the town centre and with a scarf across his face he went straight to the counter in Barclays with a note.

On this occasion the female bank worker could only read: “This is an armed.”

She looked up and saw the defendant take an object from his pocket, which she thought was a gun.

Jarvis demanded all the money in the till, but the quick-thinking employee handed him largely dummy notes. He made off with around £40 to £80.