A MYSTERY have-a-go hero grabbed a robber as he tried to flee Blockbuster video in Trident Retail Park.

The shopper, who has never been identified, stopped robber Alan Currie getting away with around £660.

The mystery man, who was shopping with his daughter, was praised as Currie was jailed for two years at Warrington Crown Court on Friday.

The public also won praise for their actions - they picked up and handed back the money, and a till check revealed £689 had been taken at the most.

Currie only carried out the spontaneous raid one Friday night in March because he was £11,000 in debt to a loan shark.

The 27-year-old from Folkestone Way, in Murdishaw, knocked over two staff in the Gamestation section of the store, Mr Roberts and Mr Beasant, and took the money from the till.

But the mystery man, helped by a Mr Robinson, stopped him leaving before other customers and security staff detained him.

The court heard Currie had been threatened with violence for not paying the debt - and that it would escalate at a 'colossal' rate while he was in prison.

His defence said he was 'unusually contrite' and that he was worried because his mother, who sat crying in court, had acted as a guarantor for the debt and he feared she might become a target.

But Recorder Wynne Lloyd-Jones said the offence was so serious - it had taken place in front of children and families - that only a custodial sentence was justified.