How pub regulars foiled armed raid

COURAGEOUS customers and staff at a Bury pub have told how they fought back when armed raiders burst in.

One drinker, Darren Weston, was shot at and was smashed across the head with a baseball bat as he led the charge with only a pool cue.

Despite a deep cut to his head, he managed to hit the gunman with the cue before helping to corner the raiders in a back room at the Pack Horse Hotel in Manchester Road.

The robbers were then confronted by the pub landlord John Lomas who grappled with the armed robbers at the foot of the stairs and then in the upstairs kitchen. Both raiders leapt 20ft from a window and fled.

The drama on Sunday night started just minutes after 11pm when the two masked men ran into the pub which contained around 20 customers.

One of the raiders pointed a handgun at the head of pub manager, Andrew Duckworth, and ordered him to hand over cash from the till and open the safe.

Mr Duckworth, aged 39, however, threw a glass of beer over the gunman.

He said: "I just didn't think. He stepped back in shock. Then five lads playing pool, including Darren, charged at him.

"The gunman fired at Darren who was at the front of the group but the bullets were blanks or it was a starting pistol." The gunmen fled after escaping through an upstairs window. Mr Weston was taken to Fairfield General Hospital where he received several stitches to a head injury. He was expected to have a brain scan yesterday as a precaution.

Police would like to hear from anyone who saw a silver car with a broken passenger window in the Bury area after 11.15pm on Sunday.

Anyone with any information should contact CID at Bury on 0161 856 8150 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Landlord Mr Lomas heard the commotion and raced down stairs to see the cornered raiders emerge from the cellar. The gunman aimed his pistol and threatened to hit the landlord with a bottle of vodka. They then ran upstairs and escaped through a window.

Det Con Mick Kennedy, of Bury CID, said: "Crime scene investigators have been down to the hotel and we believe the weapon to have been either a blank firing or starter pistol, but to the people in the pub at the time of the attack, the sound of gunfire and the threat of the weapon would have been very frightening."

COURAGEOUS customers and staff at a Bury pub have told how they fought back when two armed raiders burst in.

One drinker, Darren Weston, was shot at and was smashed across the head with a baseball bat as he led the charge with only a pool cue.

Despite a deep cut to his head, he managed to hit the gunman with the cue before helping to corner the raiders in a back room at the Pack Horse Hotel in Manchester Road.

The robbers were then confronted by the pub landlord John Lomas who grappled with the armed robbers at the foot of the stairs and then in the upstairs kitchen. Both raiders leapt 20ft from a window and fled.

The drama on Sunday night started just minutes after 11pm.

One of the raiders pointed a handgun at the head of pub manager, Andrew Duckworth, and ordered him to hand over cash from the till and open the safe.

Mr Duckworth, aged 39, however, threw a glass of beer over the gunman.

He said: "I just didn't think. He stepped back in shock. Then five lads playing pool, including Darren, charged at him. Th e gunman fired at Darren who was at the front of the group but the bullets were blanks or it was a starting pistol."