Gun held at man's head for his cheese and onion sandwich

A teenager held a gun to a nightshift worker’s head as part of a bizarre attempt to steal a cheese and onion sandwich. The robber pushed the black handgun against Garry Bell’s temple and tried to grab his carrier bag, containing the sandwich, a bag of crisps and bottle of pop. “It was then that I got angry and swore at him and he ran off,” said the 51-year-old. “I just carried on walking.”

He continued on his way to the laundry factory where he works in Tindale, near Bishop Auckland, and completed his shift. It was only when he told his girlfriend next day what had happened that he called police. “If this youth was willing to do this to me, what would he do to someone else?” said Mr Bell.



“I don’t know why I didn’t react. I’m quite aggressive and don’t get intimated. I just thought it was a prank and that it was a toy gun. It was only later that I realised it might not have been, and even if it was just a BB gun, if it had gone off against my temple, it probably could still have killed me.

“If I had been an older person, I might have handed the bag over or had a heart attack.” The teenager is described as white, aged 15 to 17 , between 5ft 8in and 5ft 10in, stocky, and with light hair which had a natural wave or curl. Detective Constable Peter Lonsdale, said: “It is unclear whether this was a real gun, a replica, or one which fires ball bearings, but of course the victim had no way of knowing.”