This is the dramatic moment a have-a-go-hero shopkeeper sent a knife-wielding robber fleeing empty-handed - by hurling chilli powder in his face:
The masked thug was sent packing after he targeted the A1 Convenience Store, in Kingstanding, Birmingham, just before it closed at 10.30pm on Saturday (7 March).
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CCTV shows the offender, dressed head-to-toe in black with a balaclava across his face, brandishing a large blade as he demands cash from the manager.
But the brave shopkeeper can be seen instinctively reaching beneath the counter before lobbing a handful of the eye-watering spice in the face of the crook.
The stunned man stumbles back as he is engulfed in an orange cloud of the chilli powder and dashes from the store in a panic.
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The store owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, has released the footage in a bid to highlight the crime but has not reported the matter to police.
In the moment, many shopkeepers/workers have grabbed the nearest thing to them. Take this fella who fended off a robber with just a magazine.
Dramatic footage emerged showing the moment the member of staff confronted the shot-gun wielding criminal - who was later named in court as Ian Watson.
Watson had brought a fake shotgun along to the incident in Nottingham in the hope that it would intimidate the shopkeeper into giving him what he wanted.
Piling out from down one of the aisles, armed to the teeth with literature, the shopkeeper - who has not been named - started whacking the would-be thief with the magazine.
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Watson seemed pretty taken aback by this and resorted to hitting the shop worker around the head with the 'shotgun'. It looks like it hurt, but he wasn't perturbed. He drove Watson back wards out of the door, where he eventually fled.
That's some dedication to your job. Let's not forget, the shopkeeper wasn't to know that it wasn't a real gun.
The incident took place at Premier General Stores in Wollaton back in May, but Watson wasn't finished.
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He then held up a post office using the same weapon on 6 June. This time, the 38-year-old managed to terrify a poor postal worker into giving him about £2,000.
Thankfully, the police eventually laid their hands on him, and he was sentenced to seven and a half years at Derby Crown Court this month.
Featured Image Credit: SWNS