A have-a-go hero shop worker fought off an armed robber holding up a convenience store.

Harry Mahalingham , 34, was working in off-licence The Broadway, at the junction of Manor Lane and Lind Road in Sutton, when robber Tazviona Maluge Bhebe, 40, entered wearing a pair of boxer shorts over his head to hide his face.

Wielding a kitchen knife, Bhebe walked up to the counter and peered out through a leg hole in his plain light blue shorts, demanding: "Give me your money or I will use the knife."

The armed robber walked around the counter to steal £100 from the till.

But Mr Mahalingham decided to fight back. He jumped onto the shop counter, and out of the shop to grab a large, A-frame display sign.

The brave assistant then went back inside and swung the green sign at Bhebe who was still behind the counter, hitting him across the shoulder.

The robber's face was caught on CCTV as his bizarre disguise fell down as he defended himself.

Bhebe then chased the sales assistant outside the shop during the robbery at 9.20am on Saturday, January 21.

He then ran off, along Lind Road, discarding the kitchen knife and boxer shorts as he ran past shocked onlookers.

Police were quickly on the scene and seized the shop’s CCTV, securing forensic evidence, and taking witness statements from the sales assistant and pedestrians nearby.

Police said Bhebe's bizarre disguise had failed.

Detective Constable Andy Thornton, of Sutton’s Burglary & Robbery Investigation Team, said: “The CCTV shows his boxer shorts shifting to reveal his face during the robbery.”

Bhebe was eventually traced and charged with robbery and possession of a knife.

He was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on April 12 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to robbery.

His former boss Ruba Kumar, 46, said his shop-worker had been incredibly brave.

He said: "I've always told my workers not to react in a robbery but he told me he did not want to see any of the shop's £5000 stock taken so fought back.

"I'm really grateful for what he did."

Mr Mahalingham, of Morden, no longer works in the shop.