A MAN has been jailed after drunkenly robbing a post office at knifepoint before escaping on a bus.

Twenty-year-old Austin Blacker wore a scarf over his face as he entered the shop in Steeple Aston, near Bicester, on May 19.

He pointed a knife at owner Sithamparafillai Parimelalagar and threatened to kill him, Oxford Crown Court was told on Friday.

Blacker, of North Street, Middle Barton, escaped with two bottles of alcohol, but he dropped one on the way out.

He was jailed for three years after admitting a charge of robbery at an earlier hearing.

Nigel Daly, prosecuting, said Blacker left the village on a bus but was arrested shortly after getting off in Deddington.

The court heard Blacker’s previous convictions included burglary, criminal damage, battery and drugs offences.

Alistair King, defending, said the robbery was triggered by a failed relationship and by publicity surrounding a rape charge against Blacker, which was later dropped.

He said: “He woke up and felt incredibly depressed, got drunk, had a huge row with his girlfriend and went out for the day with drink in hand and took a small kitchen knife with him.

“These were the actions of a young man really not thinking through what he was doing.”

He added: “He is genuinely sorry for what he has done.”