BUNGLING robbers got more than they bargained for when they tried to rob a shop – run by a martial arts expert.

Rod Harwood, who has been practising martial arts for 20 years, fought off the pair when they burst into his shop armed with a hammer and a wrench.

The 60-year-old leapt into action when the hooded men burst into his Redvales News shop demanding cash from the till and the in-store cash machine.

Mr Harwood, who has been running the newsagents for 17 years, said: “They came in and didn’t say anything at first. But then one of them came behind the counter and that’s when I saw he had a hammer.

“He started to lift it and was shouting ‘what is in the till’ so I opened it and showed him there was £20 in it. That’s when he said about the cash machine and I just thought ‘that is not happening’.

“So I crashed into this bloke who had the hammer and got a bit of a blow from him and then the other lad was coming round the counter and he had a wrench. I did think to myself ‘if two knives appear here I am in trouble’ but when your adrenaline kicks in you just go with it.

"So I pushed him into his friend and that threw him backwards and that is when I shouted at them to get out and that’s what they did.”

The pair fled the store empty-handed following the raid at 11.45am on Tuesday.

The two men are described as being Asian, 5ft 11in tall and in their early 20s, one was wearing steel-rimmed glasses and the other had a black beard.

Mr Harwood added: “It took me four hours to clear up. Every stand went over, it was a total disaster area. But it was when I was clearing up later that I saw the wrench. The lad must have dropped it when I pushed him into his friend. It seemed like they had just read a script of what to say and do but when the shopkeeper didn’t comply and there was not much in the till they ran.

“They didn’t even take the £20.”

Mr Harwood trained in martial arts in karate and Jiu jitsu for 23 years and achieved a Second Dan black belt.

He said: “I put my hand over the hammer, and an arm round his neck and just pushed him backwards. The red mist just descended over me.”

Mr Harwood is also a weightlifter and exercises by running and attending weekly yoga classes.

He said a similar incident happened in his store nine years ago, when three men came in with hammers and had balaclavas on. He said: “It just shows their ineptitude because these didn’t have anything on their faces and had been seen milling about on the street before they came in. There are lots of witnesses and I have given police the wrench. We got got a good shot of them on a nearby CCTV camera as they ran off.

“Within a minute after the attack I was OK but I was very angry at what I was faced with trying to get my shop back together, but it is back to normal now and I will be installing CCTV.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We are checking CCTV footage from around the area.”

Anyone with any information should call 101.