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MASKED SHOTGUN RAIDER DIES AFTER STRUGGLE WITH HERO ...
201755 JUN 00
By Alistair Keely, PA News
A masked raider who was found dead in a getaway car after attempting to rob
an isolated post office had been stabbed by the postmaster during the bungled
raid, police said today.
The lone raider had burst into rural Wolverley Post Office, in Wolverley
Village, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire, at 10.15am brandishing a
sawn-off shot gun and demanding cash.
But after postmaster Richard Watkins refused to hand over the money, a
struggle developed during which the gunman was stabbed in the chest several
times, West Mercia Police said.
The weapon, police said, was a lock knife used by the postmaster to open up
papers in the morning.
Mr Watkins, 50, was also hit over the head with the butt of the offender's
weapon and required three stitches in hospital, officers added.
The would-be robber staggered bleeding from the post office and was bundled
into a stolen blue Ford Sierra car by two accomplices who were waiting
outside.
The vehicle containing the dead man was later found abandoned several miles
away in the Wall Heath area of the West Midlands.
West Midlands Ambulance Service was called in a "garbled", anonymous 999
message, but was later sent back because scenes of crimes officers were
already with the getaway vehicle, a spokesman said.
Assistant Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, of West Mercia Police, said Mr
Watkins had been "very brave".
He added: "This must have been a terrifying ordeal for the man to be
confronted by a man wielding a shotgun and wearing a balaclava.
"He was very brave. He's extremely well-known in the village. He's a very
popular man.
"He is very shocked and we're doing all we can today to settle him down.
"The starting point is that he is a victim. We won't talk to him today and
will give him time to settle down and come to terms with what has happened."
Mr Watkin's graphic designer brother, Stuart Watkins, 55, from the nearby
village of Franche, said he could not believe what had happened.
"I'm absolutely shocked," he said. "(Richard's) such a nice guy. He's an
inoffensive sort of man. He wouldn't hurt a fly. This is just typical of
Richard. He just wants to get on and run his business."
Police said they would be interviewing Mr Watkins tomorrow.
Several residents said they believed Richard Watkins was justified in doing
what he did. No one believed he should be prosecuted in the same way that
Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was for shooting dead a burglar who broke into his
isolated farm.
Martin was jailed for life earlier this year after he was found guilty by a
jury of murder.
Bob Harkness, 48, said there were similarities with the Tony Martin case, but
he believed a court case was not necessary.
"I know Richard Watkins and he is a gentle considerate man.
"He was forced to react and protect himself and his property. It was a spur
of the moment thing. If someone pulls a gun on you, you have no choice."
Paul Williams, 18, a mechanic from nearby Kidderminster, who was having a
drink at the Queens Head pub just a few feet from the post office, said Mr
Watkins had a right to protect his property.
He added: "From what I have heard he received a nasty blow to the head and
was lucky not to be shot.
What was he meant to do just stand there and be shot? I think there will be
uproar, not just here, but across the country if he ended up in the same
predicament as Tony Martin,"
Teacher Andy Allen, 31, from Kidderminster added: "Public attitudes have
begun to shift since the Tony Martin case.
"Decent, hard-working people are no longer prepared to put up with violent
crime. The Government needs to act and act now."
Kenneth Pantling
Nock's Grim Truth - In proportion as you give the State power to do things
for you, you give it power to do things to you; and the State invariably
makes as little as it can of the one power and as much as it can of the
other.
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