THE METROPOLITAN POLICE have released dramatic footage of a jewellery store owner in London fighting a knife-wielding attacker with a broom.

CCTV footage shows a man casually entering Harrolds Discount Jewellers on 21 October before lunging at a female employee, grabbing her face and holding a knife to her throat.

The shop owner runs out from behind the counter and confronts the man, forcing him away from the woman, who then takes cover behind the counter – and finds a broom:

The officer leading the investigation Det Chief Inspector Ian Corner said that the shop workers were left “extremely shaken” by the attack and they acted “with great courage to fight off the suspect”.

He added that both were lucky to have escaped injury.

Police are appealing to anyone who may have information about the incident to come forward. They said today that the attacker, a white man of stocky build and with a shaved head, fled across the road from the shop and into a shopping centre along Dagenham Heathway.