AN armed robber held up a queue while raiding a newsagents, before being detained by a waiter in a Chinese takeaway.

Steven Storer, 24, was jailed for four years yesterday, for antics his defence team claimed were down to taking a contaminated batch of heroin.

Basildon Crown Court heard Storer was arrested when he tried to hold-up Sunny House, in Felmores End, Pitsea, by brandishing a knife at 6.30pm, on October 21 last year.

However. the owner’s son, Raymond Jiang, grappled the blade from his grasp and put him under citizen’s arrest until police arrived.

The hold-up was Storey’s second attempt in an hour-and-a-half. He first targeted Martin’s newsagents, threatening staff with a samurai sword before taking cash, cigarettes, and scratchcards.

However, Storey had thermal socks over his hands, hindering his attempts to get the goods into a plastic bag.

But over the course of ten minutes, customers began to ask what was taking so long and were told the till was down.

Storer then escaped on a bicycle, but again got into difficulty as he tried to pick up some of the goods which fell out of his plastic bag.

About 90 minutes later he burst into Sunny House and went behind the counter, but didn’t count on waiter Raymond taking action.

Leslie Sternberg, prosecuting, said Raymond held his nerve despite the fear he might be shot by another robber.

She said: “During the course of the detention, a second male put a black cylinder through a gap in the shutters and the defendant said to Raymond to let him go or he might be shot.

“He ignored that and dragged the defendant further to the rear of the shop.”

Storer, of Plumleys, Pitsea, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted robbery and one count of robbery.

Judge Alan Saggerson said: “It was only thanks to the – what can only be called heroic – intervention of Raymond Jiang at the Chinese takeaway your criminal behaviour was brought to an end.”

The court heard Storer had a £30-a-day heroin addiction and had taken a contaminated batch of the drug before going to rob the shops.

Roy Brown, mitigating, said Storer had reached “rock bottom” and never believed he would be capable of carrying out such crimes.

Storer has enrolled on a drugs Awareness Programme in prison and had remained clean.