A MAN who carried out a bizarre knifepoint robbery at a city pharmacy has been warned he faces jail.

Balding Joe Byrne donned a long black wig, dark glasses and a "tea-cosy" hat when he walked into the pharmacy in Monks Road, Lincoln, in the middle of the afternoon on June 24.

Byrne, who also wore blue surgical gloves, produced a large kitchen knife during the raid carried out in daylight.

He made off with prescription drugs including painkillers and sleeping tablets after telling staff: "I don't want to hurt you".

Workers at the store, run by Lincolnshire Co-Operative, were unhurt. They were offered counselling after their ordeal.

Stockily-built Byrne was arrested after a police appeal to trace the bizarrely-dressed robber described at the time as "chubby with a big flat nose".

Joe Byrne, 28, of Laceby Street, Lincoln, pleading guilty to robbing a Co-Op employee of a quantity of controlled drugs when he appeared before Lincoln Crown Court yesterday.

The drugs involved included packets of Diazepam, Nitrazepam and Zopiclone. Recorder Nirmal Shant QC adjourned sentence for the preparation of a probation report, but told Byrne: "A pre-sentence report is only going to address the length of sentence and not the type of sentence."

Byrne's barrister Stephen Lowne told the court his client is expecting a jail sentence.

He said: "There are psychiatric issues related to the defendant. He is very rightly convicted, but he appreciates a custodial sentence will follow and any report will go towards mitigation."

There was no application for bail and Byrne was remanded in custody to appear back before the Crown Court for sentence on September 24.