A BRAVE shopkeeper today relived the moment when he rose naked from his bed to confront raiders in his store.Bonaventure Vas was woken up by a loud bang in the Holbrook store just before 1am today.

A BRAVE shopkeeper today relived the moment when he rose naked from his bed to confront raiders in his store.

Bonaventure Vas was woken up by a loud bang in the Holbrook store just before 1am today.

He raced from his bed, but was helpless to prevent the two crowbar-wielding robbers escaping with the shop's cashpoint.

But Mr Vas insisted he was not frightened by the experience and vowed to continue his business, in The Street, Holbrook, despite being targeted by an arsonist in the last few months.

He said: "What can you do? Even if you hit them you will end up in court yourself.

"It won't make a difference to me, I will continue on. But it might affect my wife, she has had a lot of stress over the years."

The raiders smashed their way through the front window of the small village store and used a sling to drag the cashpoint out with a stolen Landrover.

It bore remarkable similarities to a raid on the nearby post office just two months ago.

On January 14 thieves used a scaffolding pole attached to a stolen Range-Rover, in order to get past anti-ram-raid bollards outside the front door.

Like today's attack the thieves used a large, four-wheel-drive vehicle stolen from the nearby village of Chelmondiston.

The thieves attempted to drag the cash machine from the shop but fled empty-handed when they discovered it had been emptied.

Police are appealing for help in tracking the robbers responsible for today's raid.

The two suspects – said to be about 5ft 7in tall and wearing dark clothing – used an H registration Landrover 90 Defender Turbo, which was reported stolen from Chelmondiston this morning and is believed to have been taken sometime last night.

It was abandoned in the road near the scene.

The thieves loaded the cash machine into a small dark coloured, hatchback vehicle and made their getaway in the direction of The Compasses pub.

Anyone with information on today's raid should contact Detective Constable Dick Ford on 01473 383018.

n Do you feel under threat from the increasing number of attacks in rural villages? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk.