Armed robber steals cans of lager only to be left trapped by quick thinking shopkeeper

An armed robber who tried to steal a four-pack of lager had his hopes shattered – or rather, shuttered – by the smart-thinking shopkeeper, after the business owner managed to trap the criminal in the shop (sort of) using the building’s roller shutters.

Malcolm Trimble, 30, entered the shop in Durham last month with a kitchen knife concealed in his sleeve, threatening the man behind the counter with the weapon after picking up the lager.

When Trimble then tried to flee the scene, the shopkeeper had already managed to get out the building and hold the front door closed from the outside, activating the shutter system to effectively lock him in.

Trimble eventually won the ‘tug of war’ of sorts with the door, but not before the shutter had already begun rolling down towards the floor, and so he was forced to do an awkward slide through the gap which would send Indiana Jones to an early grave.

And it didn’t even work.

Instead, the shutter ended up pinning Trimble to the floor in a rather awkward position, where his head was still inside the store but his torso was outside, while the shopkeeper was calmly calling the police to the scene.

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Realising his attempts to wriggle free weren’t working, Trimble reached for one last can of lager before police arrived within three minutes of the owner making the 999 call.

He was released from the shutters and promptly arrested by officers.

When he appeared at Durham Crown Court on Thursday, Trimble admitted attempted robbery and possession of a knife and was jailed for three years and four months.

Cracking a joke about the police response to the crime, Detective Sergeant Paul Mawson, of Durham Constabulary, said it “wasn’t the most difficult arrest” the force has ever made.

“To be honest, it was an open and shut case,” he said.

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