A ROBBER wearing a stocking mask held up a corner shop at gunpoint.

Martyrs Field Stores, on the corner of Martyr’s Field Road and Guildford Road in the Wincheap area of Canterbury was targeted on Saturday night just after 9pm.

The masked robber went into the store and threatened a shop assistant with a gun, which the worker believed to be an imitation.

He shut the cash register and refused to hand over any money but in the confusion the robber helped himself to the contents of the till, believed to total about £450, as well as cigarettes from behind the counter.

The shop assistant, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, said he was "scared to death", when the gun was pointed at him.

But he returned to work just two days later, vowing he would not let the incident change his routine.

"I thought I ought to come back – if I waited any longer it would just make it worse," he said.

A spokesman for the business said: "This area is usually trouble free and you certainly don’t expect anything of this type to happen round here.

"That said, it is always a risk you run in the retail trade. The most important thing is that nobody was hurt."

A neighbour who arrived shortly after the robbery said: "The front of the store was roped off with crime scene tape and the man who is usually behind the counter was outside.

"It was a real shock – it’s very friendly around here and you just don’t expect gun crime on your doorstep."

Police say the suspect is in his late teens and was wearing a cream-coloured hooded top. He ran off down York Road.

Any witnesses should contact Det Con Sarah Upton on 01227 762055.