A KNIFE-wielding robber who held up a Wellington service station and stabbed a customer who tackled him has been jailed for six years.

Ian Collyer, 26, of Bircham Road, Taunton, was wearing a hood when he entered Longforth Road filling station as sales assistant Rupert Hellings served a customer.

Before Mr Hellings could shut the till, Collyer produced a knife, held it to his neck and demanded the banknotes, Taunton Crown Court heard.

But he was rugby tackled to the floor and disarmed by customer Keith Perry.

After jailing Collyer, who admitted robbery and attempted robbery, Judge Graham Hume Jones said the parole board should consider carefully before consdiering his release.

For more details of the case, see this Thursday's Somerset County Gazette.