A defiant shopkeeper has told how he stayed calm as a masked armed robber threatened him at knifepoint.

Rafia Khan refused to give in to Matthew Lycett’s demand to open the till and hand over cash at Poets Corner in Shakespeare Road, Gillingham.

The retailer, who has run his convenience store for 18 years, tried to intimidate the robber by stating somebody was at the back of the shop who would “sort him out”.

At first Lycett continued with his threats but after the third warning that there another person in the shop, he withdrew his blade and fled empty-handed.

Mr Khan’s ordeal on October 16 began as he was sorting out the newspapers.

Lycett, who was caught on CCTV, lurked outside until customers had left before coming through the door wearing a cap pulled over his face.

Mr Khan said: “This job can be a death trap. You don’t know that you will be going home alive at the end of the day. But I am not going to let these scumbags get the better of me.

“In the end he became frightened and ran away.

“I stayed calm and played the game. I would do the same again.”

Mr Khan put up “name and shame“ posters of Lycett on the door of his shop along with one of two shoplifters he also caught on camera.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Lycett also targeted another shop and a garage within three days in a square mile of Gillingham.

The day before trying to raid Poets Corner, he went to Essentials in Canterbury Street where he grabbed £160 from the till.

Storekeeper Praveen Karimilla said he still gets flashbacks from the ordeal which happened as he was cashing up at about 11pm.

The 33-year-old has closed another business in Gillingham following similar incidents over the last three years.

He said: “I have CCTV but it is not high enough resolution and I cannot afford to fund this.

"As a shopkeeper you never know when it is going to happen or what is around the corner. And I can’t be in two places at the same time.”

Lycett also robbed the Esso petrol station in Watling Street, again armed with a knife.

He told cashier Akolam Ugonna: “Open the till or I’ll stab you” before making off with about £250.

Judge Jeremy Carey said: “That matter of a few minutes must have been terrifying for the shop owner.

“It is the kind of incident that every owner knows goes with the job because of the violent society in which we live with people like you, who commit these offences.

“So these offences are not fairyland - they are real. You left a trail of fear and apprehension in your wake.”

Peter Forbes, defending said the 23-year-old’s three-day crimewave came after being released from prison without any support.

Prosecutor Steve Attridge said Lycett was linked to the robbery by a fingerprint on the till and the tattoo. He was also identified by a police officer who saw CCTV footage.

Lycett admitted two offences of robbery, one of attempted robbery and three of making threats with a blade.

He was sentenced to four and a half years for the raids and three months consecutive for breaching a suspended sentence for burglary.

The court heard Lycett has 32 previous convictions.

His father was a heroin addict and his mother an alcoholic. The court heard he stole in order to pay off drug debts.