An armed crook in the middle of a crime spree around the capital got more than he bargained for when he came to Hainault.

After firing warning shots in the air, he demanded shopkeeper Thurairagh Pir-abahuran put all the cash

from the till into a bag.

This shopkeeper, however, had a different idea. Grab-bing the stool he had been sitting on, Mr Pirabahuran went on the attack, repeatedly shoving it at the gun-man, causing him to flee empty-handed. Mr Pirabahuran, 41, part owner of Hainault Food and Wine, New North Road, said: “I didn’t want to give him the money so I picked up the stool and hit him with it.”

The raider was Sheldon Green, 23, of Hackney, who was jailed for five years on Friday.

He was finally captured when he stole a phone with a tracking device appli-cation on it and was pursued by offices in a dramatic chase which ended with him jumping into a canal.

Det Sgt Neil Turner from the Barking Flying Squad said: “There was a foot chase and then Green jumped into

the canal. Only he knows why he did this. Officers surrounded him and fished him out.”