Shop assistant tells of fear as robber threatened him with cleaver

A SHOP assistant feared for his life when a raider burst into the store and threatened to batter him with a meat cleaver during a terrifying robbery.

Jacob Huber, 25, was working alone and talking to a customer when the masked thief entered and demanded cash from the till on Monday night in Edinburgh.

The crook wielded a 7in cleaver and forced Mr Huber to open the till to the shop in Dalry.

The female customer dived to the floor for cover after the robber threatened to kill her and he then escaped towards the Fountainbridge area of the city with £600 stuffed into his laptop bag.

Mr Huber, who returned to work at the Angle Park Convenience Store on Tuesday, thought he was going to die as the raider waved the “huge” cleaver.

He said: “I thought that was it. I thought my life was going to end there and then. He kept asking for money and said if I was lying where the money was he’d kill me.”

The Canadian, who has worked in the shop for seven years, was forced to put the cash into the raider’s bag.

The shopkeeper added: “When he came in at first I thought it was a joke. He burst in with what looked like a shirt with holes in it covering his face, and shouted ‘everyone on the floor’.

“He told the customer if she didn’t lie down he’d ‘end her’. He then brought out this huge cleaver knife and it was then I knew it was real.

“He made me put the money in his bag while he held the knife out.”

The suspect is described as white and aged about 30, of medium build, with blue eyes and a light strawberry-blond beard. He was wearing a navy-blue hooded top with distinctive yellow gloves.

Local councillor Denis Dixon said the incident was “very concerning” for the local community, and that he would be communicating with police over the next few days.

Detective Sergeant Robbie Wallace said: “Neither the staff member, nor the customer were injured during this robbery, but both were left extremely shaken.

“We are eager to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and remembers seeing anything suspicious.”