AN 'UNLIKELY' bank robber and his brother have been jailed for a spree of terrifying bank and building society raids -- including two in the Blackpool area.

As The Citizen revealed earlier this year, disabled Alan Moore, 47, would leave his walking stick outside building societies and march in to demand cash, brandishing a fake weapon. He was, on one occasion, aided by his carer brother, Barry, 49.

In one incident in Cleveleys he held what appeared to be a shotgun to the head of an elderly woman and threatened to shoot her unless he received money.

The St Helens-born pair, of Heads Road, Keswick began their criminal career days before Christmas in 2000 at the Cumberland Building Society in their home village in Cumbria.

He struck again at Keswick and in nearby Wigton the following year, but the brothers were arrested in October 2001 after a failed attempt to steal from a Cumberland Building Society in Aspatria.

But the robberies continued after the pair absconded from a Carlisle bail hostel. After two robberies in Leeds, Alan Moore (pictured left) struck twice in a week on the Fylde. On August 12, he struck at the Britannia Building Society on Clifton Street, Blackpool. Seven days later, the final robbery took place at the Cleveleys branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

At Preston Crown Court on Monday, Alan Moore was handed a 12 year jail sentence on four charges of robbery, four of attempted robbery and five of having an imitation firearm. Barry Moore (right) admitted one robbery charge and one of having an imitation firearm. He has been jailed for four years.

Det Insp George Nevins, of Cumbria Police, who lead the investigation, said: "Alan was the most unlikely person to have committed armed robbery -- he just did not fit the image most people have of a bank robber.

"The sentences administered today are an indication and a severe warning to criminals who commit these type of offences, that if caught and convicted, then a substantial term of imprisonment is inevitable.

"Offences of armed robbery and the fear that it imparts on members of the community is extremely worrying.

"These offences have had a traumatic effect on some of the victims.

"In the robbery at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Alan Moore held a gun to the head of an elderly female customer and threatened to shoot her unless he received money."