Sheffield shopkeeper tells of horror after husband is slashed in hand during armed robbery

Bir Sawhney was closing up at Rosy's convenience store in Richmond Park Road, in Handsworth, this week when his wife Harinder says he tried to stop a woman running off without paying.

Mrs Sawhney claims her husband only realised he had been cut after the woman told him she had a knife, at which point he stepped back and let her leave with the alcohol and cigarettes she had stuffed into a carrier bag.

Mr Sawhney, who is known to customers as Bill, required surgery on his left hand but the 64-year-old is expected to make a full recovery following the terrifying ordeal.

His wife, who owns the shop and is known to customers there as Rosy, was not present when the robbery happened on Tuesday, at about 8.30pm.

She says she and her husband, who was working that evening with his cousin, have been left badly shaken.

But she vowed to continue serving the community as they have done for more than 30 years.

"At first I didn't want to be here anymore but now I'm thinking it's just an isolated incident and it wouldn't be fair to close the shop and stop providing the service we do to the community," said the 59-year-old.

"We've had the shop for 31 years and nothing like this has ever happened before.

"We're a proper community shop, which you don't often find nowadays. If anything happens in the area like burglaries, we always tell people to watch out.

"Our customers are really upset this has happened, and they've been so supportive."

* A woman has been charged with two counts of theft, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of threatening someone with a blade in a public place. She was due to appear at Sheffield Magistrate's Court today.