A newsagent has told of his shock after being threatened by a knife-wielding robber.

Kishore Pandya, owner of Good News, in Cavendish Place, Eastbourne, was alone in his shop when a man burst in, waving the knife near the shopkeeper's face.

He fled empty-handed when a customer came into the shop.

Mr Pandya said: "He got very near my eyes. We normally keep the door open in this weather but this time it was closed and he ran off immediately when the customer came in.

"The police were here in three or four minutes. I had only just put the phone down. They were very, very quick, I couldn't believe it."

Mr Pandya has been in the business for 18 years and said it was the first time such an incident had happened to him.

"You don't expect this sort of thing. It was very frightening," he said.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police, appealing for any information about the raid, said officers had taken witness statements and were investigating the incident, at 10.15am on Friday.

The robber is described as between 18 and 22 and wore a baseball cap. He had very long black hair and wore dark clothing.

The shop had been targeted by burglars only three days earlier. Neighbours called police after it was broken into in the early hours of Tuesday .

A man was arrested after he was found inside with packets of cigarettes.