5ft 3in grandmother tells how she fought off hammer raider

May Walker, 49, was threatened by a hooded thief in an early-morning raid at her snack shop. But the brave shopkeeper grabbed his weapon, sending him running away empty- handed.

The grandmother-of-one said: "The thief was waving the hammer at my face. I really thought I was going to get hurt. I knew I had to take it from him; my instincts kicked in.

"I did what I think anybody would do - I want criminals to know there are a lot of people like me, people who will fight if someone like this happens to them. They should beware."

Ms Walker, who has owned Monty's Snack Shop in Paisley, Renfrewshire, for two years, went in to open up as she always does on Thursday.

She spied a man in a hood with a scarf covering his face at the bus stop as she parked for work, but thought nothing of it. The trusting shopkeeper walked into her takeaway at 7:15am, leaving the lights off and the door open behind her.

She went into the kitchen, unpacked some food and turned round to see the thief behind her, wielding a heavy wooden hammer.

"I'm only 5ft, 3in," she said. "And there was this big man with a weapon. He kept saying, give me your bag over and over again. I saw the petty cash box full of coppers, worth about 2 or 3, and told him to take that. As he turned round to get it, I grabbed the hammer from his hand."

The startled thief lost his weapon and fled the shop, vaulting over the front counter.

On his way, he dropped all the money from the cash box he'd grabbed. Ms Walker chased him out as the hoodie headed towards Paisley Sheriff Court in St James Street.

"I was standing there with the hammer in my hand, shouting 'help, help'," she said.

"There were a couple of people across the road, but no-one came over. I put the hammer straight in a street bin. I still don't know why; I just wanted it gone, away from me."

It was only when her daughter Simone came in an hour later that Ms Walker recovered from her shock and burst into tears.

The shopkeeper, who has never been robbed before, went home and called in Strathclyde Police.

They want to hear from anyone who may have seen the man in the shop or at a nearby bus stop in St James Street on Thursday morning. The suspect is believed to be in his 20s or 30s and around 5ft 11in tall. He was wearing dark clothing.

The grandmother is still getting over the attack. She said: "I never expected it. It was in the morning - it's not like I work in a petrol station late at night. But it won't stop me going back to work. I'm carrying on as usual."