A ROBBER dressed in a skeleton Hallowe’en mask held up a terrified shopper at knife-point in a supermarket car park.

Police said the man, who was armed with a long-bladed kitchen knife, approached the 51-year-old woman as she climbed out of her car at Sainsbury’s in Hardman Way, Darwen.

He demanded the keys of her new green Mini, and after seeing the knife she threw them in her attacker’s direction before running to the shop for help.

The would-be thief then struggled to get the automatic car to work and ended up running from the scene straight into Sough Road, where he was nearly knocked down by a car, police said.

As well as the skeleton mask, the attacker was also wearing a distinctive high visibility jacket with a metal skull and crossbones emblem with the words ‘of glory’ emblazoned across it.

Detectives from Blackburn CID are now appealing for witnesses to the incident.

DS Kathryn Cussans, who is leading the investigation, said: “The victim has been left extremely shaken by this incident.

“The offender has approached the woman as she got out her vehicle wearing a Hallowe’en skeleton design mask and brandishing a kitchen knife.

“I am now trying to trace any shoppers who were in the car park around 8pm on Monday who saw anything at all.

“I am also looking for anyone who may have seen a man running along Sough Road. At this stage we do have a witness who saw a man run straight on to the road at about the same time and narrowly missed being run over.

“No matter how small the information I urge people to contact us.”

The robber is described as white, in his late 20s, around 5ft 10ins tall and of slim build.

Officers who attended the scene said they had found the yellow jacket and skeleton mask discarded near the scene and they had been sent for forensic testing.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We can confirm there was an incident in our Darwen store car park on Monday night.

“No customers or colleagues were hurt and we are working with police on their inquires.”

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.