Half-blind pensioner foils knife robber in the bookies

It looked like a safe bet for the knife-wielding robber – a quiet bookies with two women behind the counter and a pensioner who was blind in one eye.

But after threatening the cashiers, the thug soon found himself under attack after retired policeman Michael Seery, 67, began smashing a chair over his head.

Michael was stabbed in the thigh during the violent struggle but floored the robber again, shouting: “Drop the money and get the hell out of here!” Crucially, he then pulled off the man’s motorcycle helmet – exposing his face to CCTV cameras – before the robber slashed him in the chest and fled with the cash.



Yesterday Michael said: “It was the screams of the two ladies that set me off. He had broken down the barrier and I was the only person in there. I thought ‘It isn’t right, that can’t be allowed to happen’. So I did what I had to do.”

Detectives later recognised the robber’s face and arrested him. The thug was jailed for nine years in February 2007 for robbing Coral bookies in Farnborough, Hants.

Mr Seery was treated in hospital for his injuries and was praised at the trial by the judge who awarded him £1,000 for bravery. And last night he was given the Gold Medal at the launch of the National Police Bravery Awards. The dad-of-three said he reacted thanks to his para training in the Airborne Signals Squadron.