A man has been charged in connection with an attempted robbery at an Elgin newsagents.
Pamela McKenzie raised the alarm after the man allegedly walked into the shop and brandished a knife, demanding she take him to the safe.
She refused and hit the panic button – prompting the alleged culprit to flee empty-handed.
The drama unfolded at McKenzie’s Newsagents, on Glen Moray Drive, early yesterday when Mrs McKenzie was dealing with the morning delivery of newspapers.
At about 7am, she noticed someone hanging about outside.
The man waited for the shop to empty before heading in, and closed the door behind him.
He then allegedly brandished a knife at Mrs Mckenzie and a terrified young shop assistant, demanding cash.
She refused to comply, and instead pressed the panic button under the counter before telling the would-be thief to get out.
Last night her husband, Kenny – who co-owns the shop – praised her brave actions.
“This was just so unexpected and a ridiculous thing to happen,” she said. “She didn’t panic and told the man that he wouldn’t be getting the money from the shop.
“She even followed him to see where see he went and there were a few other witnesses as well. There was a young guy outside we are still trying to track down to get his name to thank him because he dialled 999 before my wife pressed the button. The police responded quite quickly.”
Police closed off the shop for two hours as investigations got under way.
And last night, a spokeswoman confirmed a 29-year-old man had been charged. He is expected to appear at Elgin Sheriff Court today.
Mr McKenzie said: “You just wouldn’t expect something like this to happen in this area and because of it, we lost quite a lot of business.
“The early hours is one of the busiest for us and we had to lock the shop down for two hours from about 7.30am-9.39am so that has affected our takings.”
Detective Inspector Norman Stevenson praised those at the scene for their quick-thinking during the incident.
He said: “Thanks to information provided by those at the scene and their quick response and actions, local officers were able to act extremely quickly to arrest a man in connection.
“No one was injured nor was anything taken however it would have obviously been a frightening experience for those involved. Incidents of this nature in Moray – let alone Elgin – are extremely rare and will certainly not be tolerated.”