WATCH: Hero shopkeeper tackles knife-wielding masked robber during terrifying raid
This is the moment a knife-wielding robber launches a terrifying raid on a store - only to be tackled by a brave shopworker.
CCTV footage captures the pair wrestling on the floor as the raider got more than he bargained for.
Osbourne Walton was wearing a clown mask and brandishing an eight-inch knife when he burst through the doors of Bal’s Wines, in West Bromwich, on December 27.
He tried to get behind the counter but student Harman Singh fought him.
WATCH the brave shopkeeper tackle the robber
Walton bit his victim as he grappled with him behind the counter at the shop in Sams Lane.
Moments before he had walked into the shop wearing a clown mask, saying: “Give me the money from the till”.
The shopkeeper initially thought Walton, aged 36, was joking.
But during the struggle that followed, which was captured on CCTV, the victim was repeatedly punched in the face and bitten on the nose.
Shocking CCTV footage shows the brawl causing mayhem in the shop as the pair knocked into displays, bringing them crashing down.
Food was also scattered along with other items as Mr Singh bid to disarm Walton.
Mr Singh, who was bitten several times during the clash, succeeded in grabbing the knife and throwing it to the other end of the store but when he tried to call police on his mobile, Walton snatched the phone from him.
The fight spilled out on to the street after Walton, who had been released from prison on licence just a week earlier, managed to open the shop door in a bid to escape.
But the shopworker continued to grapple with him, asking bystanders to call the police.
Walton, of Young Street, West Bromwich, admitted assault with intent to rob and was jailed for five years.
He was ordered to spend an extra two and a half years on licence.
In sentencing, Judge James Burbidge QC praised Mr Singh for his ‘great courage and fortitude’ and in confronting Walton, particularly for throwing away the knife and not instead of using it against his attacker ‘as others might have done’.
Dc Natalie Hadley, of Force CID, said: “This was a really nasty robbery attempt which had a traumatic effect on the victim.
“It was thanks to his bravery that he was able to disarm Walton and hold on to him until police arrived.”
