A TRIO of "inept" robbers were foiled by brave customers when they tried to get away with money and cigarettes after taking a cocktail of drink and drugs.

Stuart Dublin and Carl Cina were masked and armed with an iron bar when they burst into a One Stop shop in Stourbridge while their getaway driver Delroy Nettleford waited outside in a stolen Volvo.

The pair told terrified staff in the store to open the till and they grabbed £662 in cash and £75 worth of cigarettes as customers that included a ten-year-old schoolboy looked on in horror.

But their plans came unstuck when Pardeep Singh pulled up outside the Worcester Street store, when he entered he saw Dublin and Cina and told them: "You are not going anywhere."

He was upset about the robbery taking place but particularly about the fact it was all happening in front of a young boy, said Rupert Jones prosecuting.

In the following seconds Cina had his nose broken and lost several teeth while Dublin was left with a permanently damaged ear from a punch to the head.

Two other customers, Julian Hodges and William Croft, then helped detain the two robbers, Mr Jones told Wolverhampton Crown Court, while Nettleford drove away from the scene only to be arrested a short time later.

Mr Jones said all three crooks had regularly appeared before courts in the past with Cina clocking up 177 previous convictions on his criminal record, Dublin 50 crimes and Nettleford 49 offences,

He said that after they were arrested neither Cina or Dublin made any complaint about the injuries they had sustained inside the store.

The defendants had all been involved in the theft of £27 worth of food from Sainsbury's in Wollaston days earlier while Cina who was on bail had tried to take drugs with him on a prison visit.

Dublin, 36, of Blowers Green Road, Nettleford, 53, of Stourbridge Road, both Dudley and 51-year-old Cina of Stourbridge Road, Brierley Hill, all admitted robbery and theft.

Cina further pleaded guilty to taking drugs into Featherstone Prison near Wolverhampton and also breaching a suspended prison sentence.

Judge James Burbidge QC jailed Cina for a total of four years, Dublin was given two years and four months while Nettleford was locked up for two years and three months.

The judge said the three have-a-go heroes should all be given a £250 reward for their public spirited behaviour in thwarting what was a serious offending.

Katie Fox, defending, told the court the "inept" robbery came after the minds of all three men had been left addled by a combination of drink and drugs.