A have-a-go shopkeeper stabbed in the back by a robber says he wasn’t scared – because he lived through a civil war.
Christy Alagaratnam grabbed Liam Killigrew and trapped the thug inside his newsagent’s before realising he had been knifed.
The dad of two needed three stitches and police said he was lucky not to be seriously hurt.
But Christy, who was back behind the till days later, told us he did not panic after enduring Sri Lanka’s bloody conflict 20 years ago in which 100,000 people died. He said: “It was bad there. There were bombings, everything. That’s why I don’t get scared.”
The manager at Liberty Enterprises in Colliers Wood, south London, was restocking vodka bottles when Killigrew burst in behind the counter and brandished a knife.
Christy, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker 20 years ago, said: “He was saying, ‘Hurry up open the till’.
“I’m not panicking. [I tell him] ‘C’mon on bro, don’t play’. I thought, this guy isn’t stealing anything.
“I catch the hand with the knife and push him, then try and go out. Then I was on the floor.”
CCTV showed Christy grappling with Killigrew as a colleague hit the thug with a fold-up chair.
The pair managed to flee outside and pull the shutters down, trapping the robber inside until police arrived.
Killigrew, 47, was jailed for 10 years and four months after pleading guilty to robbery, GBH and criminal damage.
Det Sgt Ben Stephenson said: “The manager was extremely lucky not to have more serious injuries.
“I must commend the staff for their bravery.”
