The owner of a Liverpool hardware shop opened up as usual this morning - despite being held up at gunpoint yesterday afternoon.
The AP Hennessy store on Priory Road was targeted at 5.20pm by two men demanding cash.

"I was on my own," owner Linda Birch told diyweek.net. "They walked in with their faces covered and with a gun and said, we want your money. I just said, take it. It happened so quickly."

She said they cleared the shop of cash, but she was not sure yet how much she had lost in total, and nothing else was taken. "They weren't interested in anything but the money," said Ms Birch, who was uninjured in the raid.

She added that another shop, a newsagent in the next block, had been similarly targeted by thieves yesterday.

Ms Birch, who has owned AP Hennessy for 22 years, said it was only after the incident was over that the full impact of it hit her. But she had been determined to open the shop again this morning as always. "You've got to come back and face it," she said. "The police have called in to see if I was alright this morning and I'm expecting them back later."

A police spokesman said: "We were called following reports that two men, one of whom was armed with a suspected small black handgun, entered the store and threatened staff inside.

"They took a quantity of cash before escaping. No-one has been injured and enquiries are ongoing."

Anyone with information should call Merseyside police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.