Terror during knife robbery at chip shop

Police are hunting for a robber who held a knife to the throat of a fish and chip shop worker and demanded money.

The man, wearing a hooded jacket, carried out the raid on the Fish Stop in Hunter Avenue, Willesborough on Thursday at 8.30pm.

The chippy owner, who didn’t wish to be named, said a day’s worth of takings were stolen in the robbery.

He said: “He came in, shouted ‘money!’ and grabbed the boy who works for me by his T-shirt and put the knife to his throat. It was all over in 30 seconds.

“The robber was in a bomber jacket and had covered his entire face, so the only thing you could see were his eyes.

“It was not very nice for the lad. He did the right thing to hand over the money. We’ve had lots of customers coming in to see if he is all right.

“The policeman told me that in 25 years he has never seen a raid like this before.

“This shop has been here for 40 years, and an incident like this has never been known to happen before.”

He added that he has now been forced to spend the equivalent of another day’s taking to get new CCTV cameras installed in the takeaway.

Detectives investigating the incident say the knifeman is a stocky white man aged between 20 and 25 and 5ft 10in. He was wearing a waterproof black hooded top.

DS Stephanie Devon said: “The incident took place in an area with a number of houses and is a close-knit community, so we are sure someone will have seen or heard something that is related to the robbery that can assist our investigation.”

She appealed for witnesses or anyone with information to get in touch with Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting reference number ZY/028363/15.

‘This shop has been here for 40 years, and an incident like this has never been known to happen’

Fish Stop in Hunter Avenue, Willesborough