Armed gang strike at petrol station

By Patrick Lowman

A CASHIER is recovering after being threatened by masked robbers, armed with a sawn-off shotgun and an axe, during a night-time raid on a petrol station.

The woman, who is aged in her 30s, was threatened with the gun before one of the raiders jumped over the counter at the garage and grabbed cash from a till.

Although the woman was not physically injured, detectives said she had been left extremely shaken by her frightening ordeal.

The two raiders, both wearing balaclavas, burst into the Tesco petrol station on the Woodhall Business Park, Sudbury, at about 9.20pm on Saturday.

After threatening the woman with the shotgun and grabbing cash from the till, the robbers fled in a white K-registration Ford Escort car, which was later found abandoned in the nearby village of Great Waldingfield.

Detective Inspector Simon Manthorpe, of Sudbury police, said: “The cashier has understandably been left very shaken and upset by her ordeal.

“We are now trying to piece together the movements of the two offenders both before and after the robbery took place.”

The first robber was described as of average height, slim and was wearing a black balaclava, dark clothing and jeans. His accomplice was similarly dressed, but wore a grey balaclava.

The raid is the latest in a spate of armed robberies in the Sudbury area in recent weeks, but detectives are not linking the robberies at this stage.

On December 30, staff at the Co-op store in Clare were forced to lie on the floor when confronted by three masked men armed a shotgun, a screwdriver and a wrench.

One member of staff was forced to open a safe and the raiders escaped with cash in a stolen car.

Two days earlier a 16-year-old girl was among the shop assistants and customers at the Spar shop in Long Melford who were threatened by three men wearing balaclavas and armed with a shotgun and baseball bats.

The robbers again fled in a stolen car with cash, scratchcards and a customer's handbag.

patrick.lowman@eadt.co.uk