A DETECTIVE has welcomed the jail sentence handed down to a masked armed gunman over the terrifying attempted robbery of a barmaid at a snooker club.

Luke Jones, 29, traumatised his victim during the botched stick-up last Christmas and pulled off his balaclava when he realised she recognised him.

The heroin addict tried to hold up Bargoed Snooker Club with an imitation handgun because he was desperate for money to buy drugs.

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But his victim, Yvette Smith, who was cashing up the till for the night, knew his voice, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Jones only lived a 100 yards away from the club and had struck up a friendship with the barmaid after becoming a regular there.

After he was rumbled by Ms Smith, he hugged her and tried to comfort her as she sobbed inconsolably.

Her ordeal was captured in an astonishing CCTV recording.

He also took apart the weapon to show her it was a BB gun.

The horrified victim asked him: “Why are you doing this to me Luke?”

Jones, of Llancayo Street, Bargoed, fled and was found by police the next day hiding in his father’s attic.

Heath Edwards, prosecuting, read out a statement Ms Smith made to the police in which she said: “I honestly thought the gun was real and that I was going to be killed.

“Last night as I tried to go to sleep, every time I closed my eyes, I saw a gun in my face.

“I am crying all the time. I honestly thought I was going to die.”

Jones was jailed for four years for attempted robbery and four years for separate offences of possession of heroin with intent to supply and possession of an offensive weapon, a knuckleduster, making a total of eight years in custody.

Speaking outside the court, Detective Constable Chloe Collins, the officer in the case, said: “This was a particularly frightening ordeal for the staff member involved and it has had a massive impact on all aspects of her life.

“We welcome the sentence given and hope that it provides the victim with some closure.”