Armed Robbery 1988

Bryan Smith

My wife and I ran a newsagents, stores and Post office in a sleepy Midland's village, where nothing much usually happened..

One quiet balmy afternoon, it was hot and sunny and the shop door was wide open. My wife was in the house at the back, my sister-in-law (who was on holiday) was sitting in the PO security area, talking to me and I was standing at the shop counter.

Suddenly two hooded men ran in and the first one pulled out a sawn-off double- barrelled shotgun from his jacket and pointed it at my throat.

"I want all your money" he said and pushed the shop cash-till towards me, breaking part-off in the process. I felt as though I was in another world, time stood still and ashen-faced, I hung onto the counter, for what seemed hours, trying to memorize his face. My sister-in-law had not immediately realized what was happening, but thankfully, when she did, remained in the secure area. The gunman repeated his threat but having recovered a little I shouted 'I've had enough of this: p*** off' and at the same time with one hand grabbed the shotgun barrel and pushed it upwards whilst my other hand fumbled for the alarm-button, which eventually set off the outside bell alarm. The two youths looked at each other, thought better of "'staying for tea' and legged it out of the shop, with me following someway behind. However I suddenly realized the possible danger to others and went back into the shop. By then my wife had come out and I rang 999, with the police arriving very quickly, followed not long after, by our Post Office Personnel Officer.

It transpired that the robbers had also tried, unsuccessfully again, to rob another Post Office nearby! We closed the shop whilst the police came and lifted fingerprints from the till and my sister-in-law and I had to go and make statements (and have our dabs taken) at the Police Station. The irony was too that there was hardly any money on the premises, as it was the quietest afternoon of the week and the safe was quite impregnable anyway. Thankfully no one was hurt but we were a little shaken and stirred.

The hold-up men were eventually caught and at court pleaded "not guilty" as they were high on drugs and had no idea what they were doing. They got three and two years imprisonment respectively however and not a penny for their efforts.