Owner praises Good Samaritan for attacking robber with crowbar

Lynton Carr, owner of Cash for Gold in Lytham Road, South Shore, Blackpool, said the Good Samaritan ran inside the store and tackled the raider.

He struck the robber – who was holding an axe to Mr Carr’s daughter’s face – with a crowbar and disarmed him.

The unknown hero had driven up in a white Ford van before racing inside.

Today, a relieved Mr Carr said: “This man’s a Good Samaritan who has helped to stop the store from being robbed and my daughter being attacked.

“Blackpool needs more heroes like him.

“He was lucky enough to be able to disable the robber and stop him.

“I’m most grateful to him. I wish I knew who he was.”

Three police patrols attended the scene, at 1.05pm yesterday, with the suspected raider taken to hospital for treatment by ambulance.

Police later confirmed he suffered minor head injuries.

Mr Carr’s daughter, who he did not wish to name, was uninjured, but a number of display cases were smashed during the robbery.

Liz Abbott, 66, who works at Butter Fingers Sandwiches in Lytham Road, said Mr Carr’s daughter was left “shaken” after the incident.

She added: “She told me someone had had some sort of weapon – that was what appeared to have shaken her up. My main concern was that she was OK – she is a lovely lady.”

Martin Critchley, 53, manager of the Halifax Bank in Lytham Road, said several staff had seen a commotion outside the pawnbrokers and called police for help.

He added: “A staff member was in the doorway. An assistant manager had seen a bit of commotion outside the front before the police turned up.

“I’ve never known anything like it.”

Det Sgt Simon Pritchard, of Blackpool CID, said a weapon had been recovered from the scene.

He confirmed: “At 1.05pm, members of the public flagged down a passing police officer to say there was a robbery in progress.

“A member of the public has intervened and detained the suspect – he is a hero.

“The suspect is currently under police supervision and will be questioned.

“The female victim is quite clearly going to be shaken up by the incident.I can only imagine it must have been really traumatic for her.”

This is not the first time the store has been raided, with around £70,000 of cash and jewellery stolen in November 2011. Last year, another of Mr Carr’s shops, J and L Carr’s Jewellers in Garden Street, St Annes, was also raided by three crowbar-wielding masked robbers who stole a quantity of jewellery.

Mr Carr added: “You become accustomed to it, but you never want or expect it to happen.

“The burglary here a few years ago cleaned me out, while last year there was a raid in St Annes.

“You always have people trying to chance it and steal things but nothing like this has happened before at this shop.

“We were very fortunate the Good Samaritan managed to stop us losing anything.”

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