Robber foiled by lads mag

21 December 2009

A WESTON shop assistant hit an armed robber with a lads mag to stop her from making off with the takings.

Ross Gould was working in his family-owned business, Malvern House News when a knife-wielding woman attacked him on Saturday.

The 60-year-old tussled with the woman before hitting her over the head with a copy of popular magazine Loaded.

Ross was stabbed in his left hand and suffered a few cuts on his right hand before the woman fled out of the Drove Road shop empty-handed.

He said: "The last customer had left about a minute before and I was in the shop on my own.

"This young girl walked in, stood in the middle of the shop, and told me to open the till.

"She had a knife in her hand, which was about eight or nine inches long, and she stabbed the counter and demanded I open the till again.

"I grabbed her arm but I didn't really have much time to think, it was all a bit of a blur.

"Then I whacked her over the head with Loaded magazine. It was just bigger than Zoo or Nuts - the other magazines which were close to hand.

"I was just trying to get her to let go of the knife."

The attempted theft happened at about 5.15pm and about 10 minutes later a similar incident happened at Whitecross News and Gifts in Whitecross Road.

A police spokesman said: "On the same day a female offender entered Whitecross News and left with the contents of the till."

As the Mercury went to press yesterday (Wed), nobody had been arrested for the crimes and anyone with information is urged to call police on 0845 456 7000.