Shop worker turns tables on knife-wielding robber by flashing her own blade

A knife-wielding robber met his match when a shop assistant unexpectedly pulled out her own blade as he attempted to threaten her.

Lorraine McCalliskey, 36, turned the tables on the thug and told him ‘Come on then let’s have a go if you want to have a go’.

The fearless shop assistant hit back after the thief pulled out a steak knife and ordered her to open the tills as she prepared to close the Mini Market in Tiverton, Devon.

The incident occurred at 10pm on November 8 when the man walked in covered head to toe in black with only his eyes visible.

‘I always thought this would happen one day and I was thinking “this is happening now”’, Lorraine explained.

‘I thought “Do I have time to get my knife out?”

‘I went to the till and under the till is where we have a small packing knife for stationery. I pulled it out and said “Come on then, let’s have a go if you want to have a go”.

‘It was quite surreal. If he put his arm out with the knife he was close enough to have stabbed me. He was using it to gesture. He had his knife downwards but I had mine right in front of me.’

Lorraine immediately gave chase after the man attempted to flee the shop and followed him before he eventually disappeared.

‘I followed him out. He was running down Wellbrook Street and I was calling him “Scouse this and Scouse that”, all the names under the sun”, Lorraine said of the robber.

‘This alerted two women who were walking past the funeral parlour and I told them I’d nearly been robbed.’

Praising her actions, shop owner Alizon Martin said: ‘He must have thought that the till would be full just before closing. My history with the shop goes back almost 30 years and I’ve never experienced anything like this.

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‘He was wearing a balaclava and possibly with a hood up. Lorraine was incredibly brave.’

Police are still hunting the foiled raider and have appeal for witnesses to contact them on 101 quoting CR/97740/17.