Postmistress, 72, tells how she fought off thief who cut her

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AN ELDERLY village postmistress told yesterday how she bravely fought back as she was attacked by a knife-wielding robber for the miserly sum of £127.
Sheila Jeffrey, 72, said she suffered cuts to her hands as she fought to protect herself, and the man banged her head repeatedly against a metal box.

The raid occurred almost 18 months ago in the Borders village of Town Yetholm, near Kelso, where

Mrs Jeffrey has run the post office for 26 years.

She told the High Court in Edinburgh that the incident had had a definite effect on her, and, in the immediate aftermath, her daughter had to stay with her because she was frightened to be alone in her home, which doubles as the post office. "I am still very, very aware of any strangers that come into the post office," she said.

Her daughter, Angela Lyall, 49, who works beside her mother as the village postwoman and had also been confronted by the knifeman, added: "We are just wary all the time. We never used to be like that.

"We have quite bad nerves between the two of us now."

Patrick Loyden, 41, of Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, denies assaulting the two women and robbing Mrs Jeffrey on 26 September, 2008.

Mrs Jeffrey said the man, wearing dark clothing and a crash helmet, entered the post office at about 9:45am and asked for a first class stamp. As she made to get the stamp, he came through a security door to her side of the counter. He demanded money in a way which was "not very nice". He had a knife in his hand.

"He came towards me with the knife. I tried to stop him and put my hand up and managed to cut my hand. The next thing I saw was the knife coming towards my stomach. I grabbed hold of it with my (other] hand and I was cut," said Mrs Jeffrey.

The man "thumped" her head three or four times against a metal box which held the alarm system, and she thought she was going to pass out, but managed to shout for her daughter, who was in the adjacent sorting office. Her daughter appeared and shouted at her to press the panic button. It was the first time she had used the alarm, which linked the post office to the police.

The man grabbed notes from the cash drawer, in spite of Mrs Jeffrey's attempt to shut the drawer on his hand. When he ran back around the counter into the post office, Mrs Jeffrey held the security door while her daughter held the door between the sorting office and the post office from the outside, trying to trap the man.

However, he was too strong and Mrs Lyall had to release the door and he fled, dropping a number of £5 notes. The police arrived and Mrs Jeffrey recalled being "rather disgusted" that an officer had described her as an old lady. She checked and found that £127 had been taken. She was unable to identify her assailant.

Mrs Jeffrey said the cuts to her hands did not require stitching, but took about three weeks to heal. Asked about the effects of the incident, she said: "My daughter had to stay with me for two nights because I was frightened to stay on my own."

The trial continues next week.