A SHOPKEEPER stared death in the face for the third time when a robber held a knife to his throat and demanded cash.

A year to the day since he bought his off licence on Albyn Bank Road, Avenham, grocer Poobalasingam Santhakumar was forced to hand over almost £160 to an armed raider.

In his last job before he moved to Preston, Mr Santhakumar was threatened on two occasions - once with a gun and once with a knife - while he worked at a London petrol station.

One of the reasons he moved to Preston was to escape the terror.

He was behind the counter at the Albyn Bank Grocery and Off Licence on Sunday last week when the raider walked in.

He said: "As soon as I saw the knife I pressed the panic button. I was very worried.

"The man told me to open the till and when I refused he jumped over the counter and put the blade very close to me, opened the till and took the notes.

"I thought 'this is it I am going to die'. He snatched the cash and ran off."

Now, after coming to terms with the trauma of being threatened for a third time, he is struggling to pay his bills as the thief made of with most of his week's takings.

He explained: "I am very upset. Last week I made £150 and now this week's takings are gone. I will struggle to pay the bills."

Since the theft he has installed closed circuit television cameras to monitor all people entering the store.

Detective Inspector Bob Helm, of Preston CID, said: "It is bad enough to have an incident of this nature but if he has had offences like this committed before he must be wondering 'why me?'

"It is important to get hold of the culprit as soon as possible," he added. The robber is described as slim, aged 26-30 with short brown hair and made off in the direction of London Road.

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