An armed robber fled with a large sum of money during a raid at a Leighton convenience store.
At around 7.05pm on Monday evening, a worker at the Co-op store in Clarence Road, was threatened with a knife.
The offender waved it in front of the shop assistant while demanding cash and forced them to open the till and hand over the shop’s money.
After putting the cash in his coat pocket he fled the store and headed towards the housing estate where witnesses saw him removing the coat he was wearing.
A man has been arrested in relation to the incident and released on police bail pending further inquiries.
Bedfordshire Police are now in the process of reviewing CCTV images of last Monday’s attack and describe the offender as being a white male, in his mid 20s, around 5ft 9ins tall, and of average build.
He was wearing a three quarter-length black and white jacket with the hood pulled up and a green balaclava and was wearing black gloves, dark blue jeans, white trainers and a grey hooded top underneath his coat.
The coat that he was wearing had writing on the back and on the sleeves while the balaclava appeared to have been home-made with eyeholes cut into cloth.
Det Con Tim Worden, who is investigating the offence, would like to hear from anyone who saw the robbery taking place or may have seen the offender leaving the shop after the raid and heading towards the housing estate opposite.
Det Con Worden said: “This incident left the member of staff extremely shaken up and it is important that we identify and arrest this offender as soon as possible. We are currently looking at CCTV footage from the store which captured the incident.”
If you have information relating to this incident, contact DC Worden, in confidence, on 01582 394434, the non-emergency number 101, or text information to 07786 200011. Alternatively contact independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.