Shopworker recovering from heart surgery tackled robbers armed with 12in knife and a hammer

Mohammad Naeem was working alone in the Top Shop Store in Jesmond Gardens, Hartlepool, at 7.30pm on Tuesday, April 9, when the raiders burst in with a machete knife and a hammer.

Mr Naeem, who was recovering from heart by-pass surgery and still on medication could barely move his left arm, but he grabbed at the knife with a foot-long blade brandished by Brandon Moore, 19.

He seized it and threw it away, but he was repeatedly hit over the head with the hammer by the second man Ryan Johnson, 21.

Passer-by John Liddle, who ran inside to help Mr Naeem, was punched to the ground and the robbers fled with an unknown amount of cash and cigarettes and Mr Naeem’s mobile phone, prosecutor Peter Sabiston told Teesside Crown Court.

Judge Peter Armstrong said Mr Naeem was badly injured and he could apply for compensation.

Mr Naeem said later in a Victim Impact statement: “I can’t believe it has happened to me after all the years that I have lived in Hartlepool.”

The judge awarded £500 to Mr Liddle for his courage.

Rod Hunt, defending Johnson, said his partner had given birth while he was remanded in custody, and he had been on a horticultural course to give him a fresh start when he was released.

Stephen Constantine, defending Moore, said: “He has told me this morning that he is dreadfully sorry for the injuries suffered by the gentleman in the shop.”

Judge Armstrong told them: “The attack with the hammer resulted in very serious injuries to him which he is still suffering from.”

Johnson, of Harold Hornsey Square, Hartlepool, was jailed for six years and Moore, of Milbank Road, Hartlepool, was sentenced to six years detention in a young offender’s institute after they both pleaded guilty to robbery

Moore also pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article and Johnson pleaded guilty to common assault on Mr Liddle and possession of an offensive weapon.