AN "amateurish" robber who staged a post office raid using his own car as a getaway vehicle had his sentence slashed on appeal today.

Dwayne Gilling, 34, was one of two raiders caged for the terrifying robbery at Downton Post Office in March last year.

One of the duo stormed into the shop, bearing a carrier bag containing "what looked like an imitation gun", London's Appeal Court heard today.

The masked raider demanded cash from the panic-stricken post mistress, said Judge David Radford QC.

He shouted at her, grabbed her round the neck and bundled her through a door. He then picked up a wad of notes and coins - fleeing with more than £4,000.

The raiders used a BMW Gilling had been renovating as their escape car, the court heard.

However, prosecutors never established whether Gilling, or his accomplice, was the masked man.

Gilling, of Trowbridge, was jailed for 10 years at Winchester Crown Court after he was convicted of robbery and possessing an imitation firearm in November last year.

Raymond Laurence - his accomplice -was handed an eight-year term after admitting the same charges.

Gilling's case reached the Appeal Court today as he challenged his sentence with claims that it was too harsh.

And Judge Radford, sitting with Lord Justice Jackson and Mrs Justice Cox, agreed to cut it to eight years.

Gilling's legal team pointed out that his life was in a state of "complete collapse" at the time - following the breakdown of his marriage.

He was living on the streets and the style of the robbery was "entirely amateurish", the court was told.

Judge Radford noted the "devastating" impact of the attack on the postmistress, who was left deeply traumatised by her ordeal.

Rural post offices provided an essential service and their staff deserved to be protected by the courts, he said.

Allowing the appeal, however, he ruled: "We conclude that 10 years for the robbery was manifestly excessive".