A MALVERN shopkeeper has told how he fought off a knife-wielding robber.

Soran Sharifi was behind the counter at Link News in Worcester Road on Saturday (August 26) when a masked man came in asking for money from the till.

But Mr Sharifi was having none of it, refusing to hand over money despite the man threatening to kill him, and fighting him off with the only thing he could lay his hands on - a cardboard box.

The attacker then proceeded to throw gin bottles at him.

The man eventually fled after Mr Sharifi told him he recognised him.

Remarkably, Mr Sharifi suffered only small cuts and grazes on his arm - and was back at work the next day.

Malvern Gazette: Mr Sharifi was threatened with a knife in his shopMr Sharifi was threatened with a knife in his shop (Image: NQ)

“It was 7.45pm, this guy comes in wearing a mask and I recognise him and think, what’s he doing?” he said.

“He walks past the counter and I think he’s going to get some beer, but then he takes out a big knife and comes towards me saying ‘open the till’.

“I told him ‘I’m not opening the till’ and he said ‘I’m going to kill you’. I thought in the moment how I could defend myself and saw an Evri parcel ready for collection.

“He came towards my chest with the knife so I pushed him back hard with the box, he started to lose control so I pushed him hard and he hit the fridge.”

Mr Sharifi said the man then came for him again, throwing bottles of gin at him and again demanding he open the till.

“I looked at him again and recognised his eyes and I said ‘I know you’. I said ‘I’m not opening the till, if you want to fight, ok let’s go’.

“And then he ran away.

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“I called the police and they were here for four or five hours. When I got home I messaged my neighbours and within 10 minutes they had come back to me with CCTV.”

Mr Sharifi said he thinks the man who attacked him is a customer he has helped in the past.

“This is the thanks you get," he said. "I’m Kurdish and I’ve been in this country for 14 or 15 years.

“Nothing like that has happened in the four years I’ve had the shop here, nor in the six years I had a shop in Cardiff.”

A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: “Police responded to a call of an attempted robbery of a commercial property on Worcester Road in Malvern around 7.55pm on Saturday, August 26.

“The offender entered the shop with a knife and demanded cash. This was unsuccessful and the offender left empty handed. Enquiries are ongoing to locate the offender. The victim suffered minor injuries.”