Three men and a woman are today being questioned after a raid at Chaucer News in Sittingbourne.

A 26-year-old from the town and a 50-year-old, from Chatham, were the first to be taken into custody. They were arrested this morning on suspicion of robbery.

A 29-year-old woman from Sittingbourne and a 56-year-old man from Chatham have now also been arrested on suspicion of robbery.

All four are still in police custody.

It comes after knife-wielding thugs burst into the Chaucer Road business at about 6.45pm yesterday.

Two balaclava-clad men are reported to have bundled one member of staff into a backroom before threatening owner Philip Chambers.

It is believed they attacked Mr Chambers, 65, but he managed to fight them off. The pair then left the shop empty-handed.

Kent Police has confirmed inquiries are "ongoing" into the attempted robbery.

The shop was previously raided at 6.15am on Sunday, December 1, when two men - again carrying knives - entered and threatened staff. It is not known at this time if the two incidents are connected.

And Mr Chambers and his wife Jan were left counting the cost last month after a motorist drove into the front of the shop they have run for 20 years.

Then six days later, more than £4,000 of cigarettes were stolen during a break-in where thieves tried to smash the window of the front door.

When that failed, they forced the lock to get into the shop. Speaking about previous robbery, Mr Chambers said: "It's been a bit of an eye-opener.

"It's not an every day occurrence to be targeted as much as this in a short space of time. "We’re going to lose money because the insurance company will only pay out so much.

"We're now looking at having cameras installed inside and outside, and changing our opening hours at the weekend to make sure there are more people around."