Ashington Ladbrokes armed raid terror
A desperate bandit risked a lengthy prison sentence for a tiny sum of cash.
The robber wielded a metal bar to terrify female staff when he raided the Ladbrokes betting shop in Ashington town centre.
He walked in at around 6.15pm on Tuesday night and threatened a woman assistant before escaping with money.
A Ladbrokes spokesman said CCTV images had been handed to police and it was hopeful of a result for their investigation. He said: "We have got good CCTV footage from the shop of the incident and have passed this on to the local police.
"We will work closely with the police and hope for a good outcome.
"No one was injured and that is the important thing. The amount of money taken was very small.''
Northumbria Police said the female cashier who was threatened was "shaken but not hurt''.
She was looking forward to a couple of days off towards the end of her shift when the robber struck.
The police helicopter was launched to search for the man from the air but he was not found.
The shop was closed and condoned off for the police investigation and scientific aids officers examined its toughened glass entrance doors for fingerprints. But it was business as usual yesterday for the shop which is in Woodhorn Road.
Ladbrokes district supervisor Bob Hall, who was at the shop, said: "It is business as usual and everyone is okay."
A woman who works at the Specsavers store next door said yesterday: "We finish at 5.30pm so we don't know what's happened but we have been told there was a break-in.
"I just know that it was cordoned off and there was a police helicopter going over."
The shop is in a busy area of the town and police appealed for anyone who saw anything to contact Ashington CID.
The police spokesman said that the robber was a lone white male who was around 5ft 10ins tall and had a stocky build. He wore a dark jacket.
Anyone with information can contact police on 03456 043 043.
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