AN ELDERLY shopkeeper fought off a masked would-be-robber who stormed his Burnley newsagents armed with a knife.

At around 5:50pm on Thursday a boy, believed to be around the age of 15, went into the Colne Road newsagents wearing a rubber skeleton mask over his face.

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The robber tried to get behind the shop counter through a small wooden gate, while brandishing a pen knife at the shopkeeper and demanding money.

But the brave shopkeeper hit out at the offender who then ran off out of the shop.

DC Ian McLean from Burnley CID said: “This was a frightening attack on an elderly man who was just doing his job.

“I would appeal to anyone recognises the offender or indeed, anyone who has any information about this incident, to get in touch with us.”

Detectives have now released CCTV images of the suspect.

The offender is described as wearing a ‘Scream’ Halloween mask, aged around 15-years-old, white, of slim build and approximately 5ft tall.

He was wearing a tracksuit top with a hood and vertical stripes down the front and tracksuit bottoms with stripes down the side of the leg.

Queensgate councillor Arif Khan said incidents like this one were a blight on what was otherwise a "vibrant" and "lively" neighbourhood.

He said: "I'm not pleased with these sorts of incidents, it's terrible.

"It's a really vibrant area, there are a lot of shops, Lidl, and Home Bargains, and it's quite lively all the time.

"Unfortunately opportunists come round at this time of year.

"This should be stopped.

"I support the police action and urge them to find the culprit."

Colne Road is a busy shopping area, which is usually busy in the evenings, and there are likely to have been people around at the time of the attempted robbery.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference number 1200 of November 13 2014.

Alternatively, they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at Crimestoppers-uk.org.

No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.