COLLEAGUES of a middle-aged woman who was confronted by a raider with a hammer as she finished her shift at a Devizes sandwich shop on Sunday evening have spoken of her bravery.

The 44-year-old woman, who has worked at Subway in London Road, just yards from Wiltshire Police HQ, since it opened nine years ago, was left traumatised by the robber but this week was back behind the counter.

Manager Jake Kovacs said: "She is very brave. We offered her time off but she said she would rather be at work. We are all supporting her. You do not expect something like this to happen in Devizes. Some of the staff are a bit anxious now about working late on their own. We will be having a meeting about security at the weekend."

The raider, who was armed with a hammer, struck just before the shop was due to close at 10pm and demanded that money from the till and safe was handed over. An exact amount taken is not yet known but it could be thousands of pounds.

A police spokesman said: "A man, whose face and head were covered, walked into the shop at around 9.55pm last night and spoke to a female member of staff, demanding money from the till and the safe.

"The suspect is described as white, between 5ft 7ins and 6ft tall, with light hair and a grey moustache and stubble.

"He was wearing a dark beanie hat, a dark scarf covering his face, a leather or fabric quilted black jacket, dark Nike trousers and black trainers with white soles.

"He was also carrying a blue bag for life with white handles and spoke with a calm, quiet voice, with no regional accent.

DC Keith Harford, from CID, said the woman was not injured but left very shaken. He said: “This was a very frightening incident for the member of staff involved.

“As soon as the man left the store she phoned 999 and police officers were at the scene within four minutes. Our dog units carried out a thorough search of the surrounding area, but he has not been traced.

“We know that these CCTV images show a man who has his head and face covered, but we are hoping there may be something about this man that someone recognises.

“We would also like to hear from anyone who was in the area around 10pm last night and who may have seen someone matching our suspect’s description.”

Subways is now to install a panic alarm for employees to press if there is trouble in the sandwich shop. The manager said the employee followed staff protocol during the incident.