Armed raider strikes at village store

A GUNMAN terrified staff and customers at a village shop when he burst in and demanded cash then ordered everyone inside the Co-op to lie face down on the floor.

The armed robber struck at Isleham, near Newmarket, and locals caught up in the raid on village's popular Co-op store were yesterday still recovering from their gun-point ordeal.

Detectives hunting the raider are now appealing for any witnesses or people who saw anything suspicious around the West Street shop on Wednesday either before or after the 4.15pm robbery, to contact them.

A police spokesman said the robber struck at the Co-op when staff members and around five shoppers were in the store.

He said: "The man entered the store and threatened staff and customers with a hand gun. He demanded money from the cashier and made the staff and customers lie face down on the floor."

The spokesman said that due to security measures in place at the store, the raider left with a "very small" quantity of cash.

Ray Goodwin, manager of the store, said he was not in the shop at the time of the robbery but described what happened as a "very frightening ordeal" for his staff and customers.

He said: "This is the first time something like this has happened at this store for eight years. It's a terrible thing for customers and staff to be caught up in. There were around five customers in the store at the time."

Mr Goodwin said the customers who were elderly and young shoppers, and staff working at the time were all shocked by what happened.

He said robbery forced the branch to close for the rest of the day, but it was business as usual yesterday.

The cashier was said to be "quite shaken" by the ordeal and was not back at work yesterday.

The robber was around 6ft 2in tall, of slim build and aged around 24. He is believed to have pale skin and fair eyebrows and was wearing blue jeans, a dark jacket, a dark hat and black gloves.

Anyone with information about the robbery should contact Cambridgeshire police on 01480 456111.