Horror of knifepoint robbery revealed by licensee
A licensee has revealed how a horrific robbery at his pub by knife-wielding attackers brought back harrowing memories of the death of his niece.
John Wilsher had been working as a relief manager at the Duke Inn, in Kempston, Bedfordshire, for less than three months, when two men wearing "Halloween" masks carried out the raid.
One of the men pointed a carving knife towards John before grabbing less than £400 from the till and fleeing the scene.
The 52-year-old told The Publican how the terrifying ordeal brought back memories of his niece Louise Shaw, 20, who died after a knife attack four years ago.
He said: "I was in the kitchen when my wife Olive heard something.
"I went into the bar and there was a masked raider by the front door and one at the bar with a carving knife and he wanted the till and all the money.
"At first I couldn't open the till and I was just pushing buttons. It was a bit of a nightmare for a few moments. One of my customers chased them out of the door and threw a barstool at them, but they had knives, so what can you do?"
He added: "What gets me is that four years ago my niece was attacked in Luton and left for dead. She was knifed 11 times and died a few days later.
"A few years later someone sticks a knife two feet from my face so it brings back memories."
Police have taken CCTV footage from the Charles Wells-owned pub. But as yet nobody has been arrested in relation to the incident, which happened just before 9pm on May 19.
But John added it has left Olive and himself wary of manning the pub late at night.
"You have to carry on," he said. "But if it is quiet at night we just shut up now.
"The other day I had to go to the bank which was worrying for me with the money, and for Olive who does not like being left at the pub."
A Bedfordshire Police spokeswoman confirmed police were investigating the incident. She added it was being treated as a one-off rather than as a pattern of any incidents involving pubs.
A spokeswoman for Charles Wells said: "Our primary concern is that they are OK. Going forward we will do all we can working with them, licensing officers and the police."
National Pubwatch is running the Court Not Caution campaign to highlight attacks on licensees that often go unpunished.
Steve Baker, National Pubwatch chairman, said: "We are campaigning more at the other end of the scale of things but this shows how serious attacks on licensees can be. I hope this one is being treated as a major incident with police dedicating resources to the investigation."
