Cleaner reveals terrifying ordeal during bookmakers' robbery
A terrified Northampton woman who was held at knifepoint for three hours has spoken of her ordeal at the hands of a thug demanding money.
Cleaner Elizabeth Sales, aged 49, was letting herself into the Coral betting shop on the corner of Wellingborough Road and East Street, Northampton, at about 4.45am yesterday when she was pushed inside by the knife-wielding robber, who was masked by a red bandana and a hood.
She said: "I honestly thought the saddle of my bike had caught me in the back, then I saw his reflection in the window.
"He said if I tried anything I would get seriously hurt.
"He said he would stab me. I was absolutely scared to death.
"He kept asking me to open the safe and I said 'I can't open it, I'm just a cleaner', and he called me a liar.
"He asked me for the code to the burglar alarm and I gave him a false code. He asked what my address was and I gave him a false address."
She added: "He kept asking me where the keys were for my other cleaning jobs and I totally denied that I cleaned anywhere else because I couldn't go through that again."
For three hours Mrs Sales was held against her will in the shop as the thug paced back and forth, waiting for someone to arrive who could open the safe.
When the manager did arrive, just before 8am, there was a scuffle and Mrs Sales said she called out for him not to struggle because the raider had a knife, but the manager had already suffered a cut to his hand.
The safe was opened and the thief was able to escape with an undisclosed sum of cash. The pair called the police.
Mrs Sales added: "We are both very shaken up. I rang my husband from work and asked him to come down. He is very upset."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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