Dramatic moment jeweller, 59, battles masked machete-wielding thugs and sends them fleeing after kicking a door at thief who claimed he had a ‘shooter’
- Burglars pulled up on motorbike armed with a machete in Warwickshire
- Footage shows Phil Sylvester launch himself across the Kenilworth store
- He falls over and is forced to defend his jewellery shop from the floor
- CCTV camera show him kicking the door into the robber, scaring him off
This is the terrifying moment a shop owner fought off machete-wielding thugs as the robbers struck on Christmas Eve.
Phil Sylvester, 59, kicked a door at the masked criminal after seeing him storming toward the store.
Shocking footage shows the jewellery shop owner slip and fall as he tries to close the business.
Pictured: Phil Sylvester hits out at the burglar while a machete-wielding thug on a motorbike waits outside the Warwickshire business
Pictured: Mr Sylvester falls to the floor then kicks at the door in an effort to keep the robber from snatching anything
But he defiantly kicks at the door to stop the armed robber getting away with anything from the Kenilworth family business.
He told The Sun Online: ‘I was walking towards the door and a motorbike pulled up – I knew straight away it wasn’t going to be good. He just ran in and I didn’t want to let him in.’
Mr Sylvester traps the thief in the door and forces him to flee despite the business owner being down on the ground.
A dense smoke can be seen pouring into the jewellers as the men struggle, which is understood to be a security feature to prevent robbers being able to see the expensive merchandise on offer.
The yob shouted ‘I’ve got a shooter’ as his getaway driver watched him fail to snatch any goods.
Pictured: Mr Sylvester continues to battle the thug who shouts that he has a ‘shooter’ as he tries to snatch goods from the shop
Pictured: Smoke fills the jewellery store in Kenilworth confusing the burglar as he runs away down the street
Video captured on CCTV cameras shows a glass cabinet crash to the ground in the 20-second confrontation.
Mr Sylvester said: ‘I just kept slamming the door with my legs as he was yelling ‘get down’. I know I hurt him – I really, really rammed the door just before he left.’
As he battled to save his business, staff sounded the alarm and smoke plumed in from the ceiling to confuse the burglar.
Mr Sylvester said the raid didn’t seem to be very well planned but revealed it’s the fifth time his store has been targeted in the last 20 years.
Police were on the scene in less than five minutes, he said, adding that nothing was taken.