THE gang may have been from Peckham and been as bungling as Del Boy and Rodney in Only Fools and Horses but their raid on a Winchester store was no joke.

Staff and customers at the One Stop shop in Garbett Road, Winnall, were terrified as two hooded armed robbers ransacked the tills. If the robbers hadn't been so inept they might have got away with it.

Instead Danny Doyle, 19, the lookout, was jailed for six years and Daniel McLean, 20, is due to be sentenced tomorrow at Winchester Crown Court.

Another alleged accomplice Omar Brown, 25, was cleared after a trial last week and a fourth, Paul Douglas, is still on the run. The gang had taken a taxi to Winnall and told the driver, James Hammond, to wait nearby. Mr Hammond grew suspicious and they fled along Alresford Road.

They ran across St Giles Hill park and three were soon arrested by armed police in back gardens off Chesil Street. Douglas evaded capture.

Mr Hammond's quick thinking made him contact the police immediately.

He told the Daily Echo: "They were so nervous. I picked them up from Stanmore and when I dropped them off they asked if they could book a cab for 15 minutes later.

"I waited at Spitfire End for a bit, and just as I was about to move off, they came running out from a path and jumped in the cab. I realised they had done something wrong. They were all sweaty and nervous.

"There was a police car behind me, and then when I told them, they jumped out and ran off. The police had gone by that stage, so I turned around and headed off to find them. I stopped them and said where these lads had got out and that I thought they'd been up to something."

Det Con Gary Steward, of Winchester CID, paid tribute. He said: "We have to rely on members of the public. Mr Hammond had a crucial role in their capture. I like to think we would have caught them in any event."

He said despite the amateurish raid, it was no joke. "People were distressed and are still affected today. Police are hunting Douglas. "It is only a matter of time before he is arrested."