BRITAIN'S most prolific armed robber, who targeted banks over five years, is this week starting a 12-year prison sentence.

Alan Lee, aged 55, pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to six charges of robbery and six of possessing an imitation firearm.

Lee, of Balmoral Road, Northampton, also asked for 44 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

One of the robberies took place on September 13, 1999 at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Congleton..

He queued up before walking to the counter and producing an imitation sawn off shotgun from a carrier bag.

He demanded cash from cashier Janet Worrall, aged 35, who handed over £8,195.

The crown court heard Lee carried out 28 armed robberies between May 1996 and this February, with most at the Yorkshire Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland, as he thought blue was his lucky colour.

The robberies followed a similar pattern, with Lee entering the bank without a disguise, except for sunglasses and a cap.

He approached the counter with a plastic bag, and exposed the double barrel of an imitation shot gun he had made.

He carried out robberies in Cheshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, West Mercia and Shropshire.

On February 12 he went into a Yorkshire Bank in Stafford, and left after being given £6,645 by a cashier.

Off duty police constable Dave Stillman entered the bank as Lee left, and saw the cashier 'sobbing' and pointing to a wanted poster of Lee.

The officer checked local car parks, and seeing a man fitting Lee's description getting into a van noted the registration number.

He was arrested on March 6, and £5,382 was recovered from his home. Lee admitted spending the remainder of the £64,000 he had stolen.

Judge Roger Dutton said at each robbery the female cashier was 'absolutely terrified' and in fear of being shot.

Christopher Gaskell, defending, said Lee had a very unhappy and tragic childhood, and his younger brother and parents had died by the time he was 13.