Pensioner fought off knifeman

Joe Doerr, 73, used a wooden stick to fight-off the knifeman who walked into his newsagents and demanded the morning's takings.

The pensioner suffered a minor stab wound to his arm as he struggled with the attacker.

He was in the shop with his wife, Lilian, and a family friend when the robber entered.

Mr Doerr said: "He came round the counter, he had a knife, I don't know what blade. He said 'open the till' and I said no.

"He said 'open the till' again and I said no. I took no notice of him."

The knifeman took a packet of tobacco from a shelf and told Mr Doerr to sit down.

Instead, Mr Doerr reached below the counter for a stick and forced the raider away from the till, at Mitch's Newsagents, in Franklin Road, Brighton.

He said: "As I was hitting him with the stick, trying to knock the blade out of his hand, he ran.

"I did not want him to take the money. We have not got much, it is not a big business. I was a bit shaky but I am OK now."

The robber did not finally flee until his son, also called Joe, ran into the shop from upstairs, alerted by the commotion below.

He said: "I moved dad out of the way to go for him. He actually went to stab dad a couple of times as I was pulling dad back.

"He turned and ran out the door. I was checking that dad was OK, but by the time I looked and ran after the bloke he had gone off down the road."

Detectives said the attacker ran down Franklin Road, into De Montfort Road and then to Elm Grove after the incident, which happened at about 12.50pm on June 10.

He is described as white, in his early 20s, about 6ft, slim, and clean shaven with short fair hair. He was wearing a beige duffle coat, which reached almost to his ankles.

Detective Sergeant Eira Stoner, of Brighton and Hove police, said: "I have no doubt that if the shopkeeper's son had not intervened Mr Doerr would have been seriously injured.

"I am keen to talk to the taxi driver who saw the offender running away and any other witnesses."