This is the terrifying moment a masked thug threatened a Stamford Hill bookmaker’s worker during a raid that saw a pensioner knifed and £6,500 stolen.
Police were called to Paddy Power just after 8am on Saturday but the knife-wielding attacker had fled the scene with the cash.
The staff member who opened up the shop told the Gazette how she dropped to her knees in fear when threatened with the blade.
The 24-year-old, of Enfield, who was too afraid to be named, said: “I opened up at 8am and a couple of customers came in.
“I started to count the money and a man charged towards me waving a knife shouting ‘give me the money’. I couldn’t see his face because he had a mask on. I couldn’t think what my code was but eventually I gave him the money and he ran out.”
A 65-year-old regular punter, known only as Errol, was stabbed in the back during the robbery, though his injuries are not thought to be serious.
“He was taken to hospital eventually,” said the worker. “But before that he still wanted to put a bet on. I couldn’t believe it!
“To be honest I feel like the customers could have done more. One man was still doing his bets on the machine while it was happening.
“I was shaken. You sometimes hear of this happening but never think it will happen to you. I was more than terrified.” Steve Scott, another regular punter, arrived minutes after the robbery and checked on his friend Errol before chasing the perpetrator down Stamford Hill.
“I came in and the girl said ‘we’ve just been robbed’. She was shaking. Errol had a big red stain on his back that was quite deep.
“I threw my betting slip on the floor and ran outside. I could see him jogging away and I chased him but he turned and saw me and accelerated away. I lost him.
“If I had been in the shop he wouldn’t have got out, and that’s not bravado. Errol is an old-age pensioner, and to do that to the girl as well, it’s not on.”
Manager Jennifer Machin, who usually opens up, was also at the scene quickly from her Highbury home. “I’ve never been robbed in 26 years in the business,” she told the Gazette. “I think it was an opportunist looking for his weekend money.
“These people don’t stop and think about the after-effects. Errol is 65. That is ridiculous. People just do as they please without thinking.” Flying Squad detectives are investigating the attack but have made no arrests.
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