A brave shop assistant last night told how she refused to open her till for a knife-wielding raider because times were hard and she was not giving him the takings.

Lisa White, 40, continued to hold out despite the robber waving a knife in her face - and even warned him against taking bottles of alcohol from behind the counter.

The raid in Crown Stores supermarket, Crown Road, Great Yarmouth, shortly before 1pm on Saturday followed a similar robbery at Evans Foodstore in the town's Salisbury Road last Thursday evening.

Miss White, who has worked at the corner shop for 10 years, was alone behind the counter because her manager was at the cash and carry.

She said: 'The shop had been busy with customers, but it was when it went quiet that the raider came in and said, 'open the till'.

'He was very quietly spoken and I mistakenly thought he had asked for cigarettes. But then he told me again to 'open the till' and that was when I saw his knife.'

Miss White, of Crown Road, told him to clear off and replied with a firm 'no' when he demanded money and pointed to the shop's second till.

She said: 'He came round the back of the counter and was standing right next to me pointing his knife at me, but what flashed through my mind was that times were hard and he was not getting the money.'

Miss White, who had the presence of mind to remove the keys from the tills, said she was praying for someone to come in when he grabbed some cigarettes and left.

'He was eying up bottles of alcohol but I told him not even to think about it,' she said.

The raider was wearing a white hooded jumper with a grey and black striped jumper over the top, a blue headscarf and a blue neck scarf. His knife had a 2in blade.

The robber who struck at Evans Foodstore at 7.10pm and left with a small sum of cash was wearing black gloves, a grey scarf and black hooded jacket. Det Con Gillian Dawson, investigating that raid, said she could not confirm a link but acknowledged the similarities.