Terrifying moment balaclava-clad robber threatens shop worker with meat cleaver before stealing £2,000 - as police launch manhunt
A baclava-clad robber waved a meat cleaver in the face of a shop worker before stealing £2000 as he instructed him to 'empty the till now'.
CCTV shows the thug storm into the Armadale Premier in Bathgate, West Lothian, at around 8.15pm yesterday evening.
Wearing a grey tracksuit and grey Adidas trainers, he can be seen shoving the shop owner into a corner before helping himself to the cash.
Shop bosses took to social media to share the video and are now appealing for any information about the culprit.
They wrote on Facebook: 'There was a robbery at the shop at 8:15pm, if anyone know anything about this guy please let us know.'
Store owner Abdul Manan added there had been 'minor incidents in the past but nothing like this' and said the store assistant was 'shaken but is doing ok'.
Mr Manan, who was not in the store at the time, said he was first alerted to the incident after the store clerk, Atta, contacted him immediately when it happened.
He told the Edinburgh Evening News Atta had informed him there'd been a robbery at the shop.
Mr Manan explained: He said he was [ok] so I said just hang up and call the police and I'm on my way.
'He's been working in the shop for quite a while and that's the first time this has ever happened.'
The store owner went on to say he believed the robber was seen at around 7.45pm standing at the bus stop next to the shop for half an hour, keeping an eye on the store.
He said Atta had been getting ready to close the shop for 9pm, clean it, and mop everything before the incident took place.
Mr Manan added: 'The police were here until around 2am on Friday and forensics have been out. Because I shared the CCTV video on social media lots of people have come back to me as well with information and I have given that to the police.'
One well-wisher wrote: 'Poor guy, just doing his job' while another said: 'This is absolutely disgusting, I hope you're ok, that must've been terrifying.'
A third customer added: 'This is out off order they are trying to make a honest living to help the community they are so nice and helpful.'
A Police Scotland spokesman said: 'Police received a report of a robbery at a premises on Lower Bathville in Armadale around 8.20pm on Thursday, 26 June, 2025.
'A man threatened staff with a weapon before stealing approximately £2,000 in cash and running off. No-one was injured.
'Officers attended and enquiries are ongoing to trace the man.'
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Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
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Chilling moment 'jealous' YouTuber stalks his wife to domestic abuse shelter before brutally stabbing her to death as she pushed their son in pram - as he's convicted of her murder
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Masum, of Burnley, already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a bladed article, but had denied a charge of murder. However, a jury at Bradford Crown Court today convicted the 'abusive' 26-year-old of murder. He was also convicted of assault, making threats to kill, and stalking, and now faces life in prison. Masum wiped away tears in the dock after a jury returned a unanimous verdict following five hours and 40 minutes of deliberation. During his trial, the court heard how the couple met and married in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after Masum obtained a student visa and enrolled on a masters course to study marketing. But the couple's relationship soon broke down in November 2023 after 18 months of marriage, which had seen Masum making threats to kill his partner in July of that year. Today it can be revealed Masum would have been locked up less than four months before the murder if warnings by the CPS had been heeded. On November 26, 2023 he was charged with assault by beating and making threats to kill against Ms Akter at their then home in Oldham. Two days earlier the jealous student had come at his terrified wife armed with a knife after flying into a rage over an innocuous text message she had received from a colleague. Masum demanded 'tell me what your relationship is with him, or I will kill you' and put the knife to her throat as she cradled their baby. Frightened for her life and fearing he would cut her throat, she clutched her son to her in a desperate hope that he wouldn't attack her. The day before, in what the trial heard was a chilling forewarning of what was to come, he had told her: 'I am going to murder you, and the police will be taking me.' Masum was arrested and his wife was allocated a social worker, confiding to her she feared he was going to kill her. 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During his closing speech on Monday, the prosecutor told jurors the defendant appeared to revel in his crime, grinning after he left his wife dying. Jurors were shown Masum walking through Bradford after the attack, with Mr Woods saying there were no signs of him being 'distressed', as he had claimed in his evidence. Mr Wood told the court a close-up of Masum getting on a bus showed him smiling, which 'removed all possible doubt' about his state of mind. 'There were no tears, there was no distress. Perhaps, members of the jury, the smile you can clearly see form as he gets on that bus is as a result of him thinking at that point he's getting away. The smiling killer.' Mr Wood said that although Masum was suffering from depression at the time, this did not provide an explanation for the savage slaughter of his partner. 'It was not his depression which caused him to kill Kulsuma, it was his other longstanding personality traits of controlling behaviour, jealousy and paranoia. She had rejected him. She had to die,' he said. 'And were there any residual thought that this was about seeing his son - having left his wife literally in the gutter, bleeding to death, he leaves his son alone. 'He could so easily have walked away with him. But he knew if he walked away with that pram it would increase his chances of getting caught. 'But he very quickly got himself out of the area and down to Aylesbury. 'In the meantime he changed his appearance - shaved his beard, cut his hair, changed his clothing.' Mr Wood said the marriage between Masum and Ms Akter was 'an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour with violence being both used and threatened'. 'He is a man who resorts to violence... and when he resorts to actual violence, it's with a knife,' he added. Earlier, the court heard evidence from Ms Akter's sister-in-law, who said Masum had stopped his wife wearing make-up and would regularly check her phone to see who she was talking to. A statement from Minara Begum read in court explained Ms Akter had to ask permission from her husband before going out. She said they 'both seemed happy' and Masum appeared 'quite obsessed with' Ms Akter, who started working at Park Cakes in Oldham. Ms Begum added: 'Masum was not too keen on Kulsuma working but she would worry about paying the bills. 'I told her she could enhance her beauty even more with the right make-up ... Masum would get jealous if he saw photos and told her not to do make-up any more, so she didn't.' Jurors heard how arguments soon escalated to a 'more serious level' before Ms Akter tried to escape, going to stay with her brother and sister-in-law at one point. Ms Begum said: 'He kept messaging her telling he was going to do crazy things because she was with us and not at home, and kept asking her where the kitchen knife was. 'After this happened I told Masum his behaviour was not right and their relationship should not be this way. 'Masum did not like this coming from a woman or me speaking to him this way. He did not like me very much.' Jurors heard Ms Akter returned to Masum, but arguments between them 'got worse after the baby was born' and Ms Akter 'always complained he wasn't helping her with the baby and always expected his food to be prepared after work'. However, warnings of the explosive nature of the couple's relationship were seen right at the beginning of their marriage. Jurors heard that more than a year before he murdered his wife, Masum had told a doctor he 'felt like he would kill her'. The trial heard that in August 2022 Masum was found by police at a tram station, where he had stayed all night after an argument with Ms Akter. He was taken to hospital where he told a doctor 'I feel like I would kill her' and said 'when he fights with her he feels like he is going to kill her'. Medical notes showed he 'disclosed thoughts to harm himself and his girlfriend and admitted to carrying a knife while having these thoughts'. Masum told the trial he had never carried a knife in Ms Akter's presence. Asked by his barrister Frida Hussain KC why he had made those comments at the hospital, he replied: 'I said: 'I feel I'm having some mental health issues and I would like to share something with the doctor'... I just wanted to share all that with the doctor.' The defendant, who gave evidence through a Bengali interpreter, told the court the couple had 'occasional disagreements or arguments' about when they should live together and she would 'block him' when she was angry. 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Sunday Post
4 hours ago
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Failure over domestic abuse law is leaving women at risk
Get a weekly round-up of stories from The Sunday Post: Thank you for signing up to our Sunday Post newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up Key new powers to protect domestic abuse victims are still gathering dust four years after MSPs voted for them – and all ministers have done in the past 12 months is hold a workshop. Holyrood unanimously backed the new law in 2021 to help police, courts and landlords deal with emergencies where women are in acute danger. But John Swinney is now the third first minister who has failed to activate the powers. The same Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders and Notices (DAPOs and DAPNs) promised for Scotland are now up and running in a series of pilot schemes in England and Wales. In Greater Manchester alone, DAPOs were used more than 200 times in the first few months with at least six brutes ending up behind bars for breaching them. 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She said: 'Given that domestic abuse cases remain shamefully high, the SNP government's haphazardness when it comes to delivering legislation on this issue is deeply alarming. 'Even by their standards, this failure to pass competent legislation and get it implemented is beyond unacceptable and shamefully betrays victims. 'DAPOs are supposed to protect the most vulnerable, but now it could be years before we get them implemented. 'If the SNP Government are serious about tackling the scourge of domestic abuse, they must start putting victims first. A good place to start is by giving their backing for my Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill that is going through parliament.' Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: 'The SNP promised to protect vulnerable women and children, but after four years, three first ministers and countless delays, all they've delivered is a workshop. 'While England and Wales are jailing abusers under DAPOs, SNP ministers have shelved the same powers in Scotland and are now blaming their own legislation. 'This is a shameful failure – and it lies squarely at the feet of the SNP and John Swinney. 'We need action, not warm words. Vulnerable women and children are being let down because of their incompetence and inaction.' The Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act was passed by MSPs of all parties in March 2021 – by 118 votes to 0. Then Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf hailed it as 'transformational legislation', predicting it would help between 600 and 3,000 families a year. He told Holyrood: 'We collectively have a duty to ensure that our law and law-enforcement agencies have the tools to (protect) victims… 'We should never again have that stain on our collective conscience that victims of domestic abuse – predominantly women – must flee their homes in order to protect themselves.' The Act targets perpetrators in two ways. Firstly, it would allow a council or housing association landlord to evict a convicted domestic abuser if the victim wishes to carry on living in the property. But even before a case goes to court, the police would be able to issue a suspect with a DAPN, ordering him or her out of the shared home if there is a risk of physical violence or psychological trauma escalating. Courts can then follow up with a DAPO to cement the protection for three months and impose a vast range of conditions on suspects that can include being fitted with a GPS tracker or attending drug or drink rehab. Police in England and Wales already had more powers than Scottish officers, and now the enhanced notices and orders have been running for several months in Greater Manchester, London, Cleveland and north Wales. But they still cannot be used in Scotland because SNP ministers have failed to table the secondary legislation needed to bring them to life. Last summer, The Sunday Post highlighted fears that victims are being left at risk because of the delay, with then Housing Minister Paul McLennan admitting in an excruciating podcast interview that he was totally confused. He said: 'I think obviously there was legislation, you know, there shouldn't have been, and to be honest, I don't know how that would actually work.' Since then, three Holyrood committees have put pressure on the government to come up with a solid date for implementation. But this week, Victims and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown wrote to the equalities committee: 'The consensus from those who participated in the workshop was that fundamental changes were needed to the legislation. 'A short-life working group will be established to consider recommendations for possible legislative change to ensure that domestic abuse protection orders can be implemented operationally and sustainably. 'Once determined and agreed, we will look to consult more widely in 2026 and thereafter consider the need for legislation.' The Scottish Government said it is handing £21.6 million this year to more than 100 organisations working to prevent violence against women and girls and support survivors. It said: 'We are committed to fully implementing the Act 2021. This is a complex piece of legislation, and through extensive and close working with stakeholders several unexpected operational challenges have been raised. 'A short-life working group is being established to consider possible legislative changes to ensure the Act can be implemented as intended and so it works for people. We will then consult on any proposed changes.' A catalogue of ministers have played their part in the failure to implement the Act. Nicola Sturgeon used the 2019 SNP party conference to announce the coming of DAPOs – and repeated the pledge in her Programme for Government speech of 2020. Her successor, Humza Yousaf, was justice secretary when the law was passed. Both are set to leave Holyrood at the election next year with golden goodbye resettlement grants in excess of £100,000 without having seen through their promises to domestic abuse victims. Among other justice secretaries, Michael Matheson – another about to stand down as an MSP – first touted the orders in 2017 while Keith Brown claimed Part 2 would go live in 2022. Current incumbent Angela Constance insisted those landlord powers would be up and running by spring 2024. So too did Deputy First Minister Shona Robison, when she was social justice secretary, and ex-housing minister McLennan. Minister for parliamentary business Jamie Hepburn and equalities minister Kaukab Stewart have been liaising with committees about the delays. It was Brown, the victims and community safety minister , who wrote to MSPs on Holyrood's equalities committee last week to reveal that DAPOs have been put on the back-burner. She said: 'We will look to consult more widely in 2026 and thereafter consider the need for legislation.' Timeline How progress stalled after government promises nearly eight years ago. Nov 2017 Justice secretary Michael Matheson reveals plan for new orders. Oct 2019 Sturgeon to SNP conference: 'Within this parliamentary term, we will introduce a new law to establish emergency protective orders.' Sept 2020 Programme for Government: 'The experience of lockdown reiterated the importance of protecting women and girls…facing domestic abuse.' Oct 2020 The Bill is introduced along with consultation. Jan 2021 Justice committee backs the Bill but says more work needed to make it practical. Mar 2021 The Bill becomes law after MSPs vote. Apr 2021 Westminster passes its own Domestic Abuse Act for DAPOs/DAPNs in England and Wales. Winter 2022 Deadline missed to implement Part 2, which gives powers to landlords to eject abusers. Sept 2023 Justice Secretary Angela Constance: 'Detail being worked through.' Working group set up to discuss Part 1. Spring 2024 Another deadline to implement Part 2 of the Bill is missed. Jun 2024 Housing minister Paul McLennan: 'I don't know how that would actually work.' Nov 2024 Pilot schemes activated across England and Wales. Police begin using the orders. Mar 2025 Workshop held to discuss Part 1. Jun 2025 Part 1 shelved indefinitely with new working group and consultation to be set up in 2026. Dec 2025 New deadline for Part 2, but warning that it may be delayed yet again. OPINION: Survivors affected by lack of urgency By Sophie Berry, Solicitor at the Govan Law Centre, Glasgow It really is incredible that here we are, yet another year down the line, and still there's no sign of the key parts of this legislation being implemented, just endless delays and excuses. Deadlines missed and promises broken, but plenty of time for a workshop, consultations and working groups. It's unbelievably frustrating for all of Scotland's domestic abuse organisations that have contributed significant time and resources to bringing this legislation into existence. Far more importantly, though, these are potentially life-and-death measures for survivors who continue to be affected by the lack of urgency with still no end in sight. Almost 64,000 domestic abuse cases were reported to Police Scotland in 2023/24, with 81% involving a male perpetrator and a female victim. Every day at Govan Law Centre's Women's Rights Project, we see women and children suffering the consequences of the failure to put these protections in place. Yet, at the same time, we hear that significant progress is being made in England and Wales, with pilot schemes which appear to be making a real difference to the lives of survivors. It makes no sense. Women are most at risk just when they are trying to leave an abusive partner. Giving the police the power to intervene on behalf of a person at imminent risk could make a vital difference at the most critical time. And that's as true today as it was in 2021, so any further delay would be unforgivable.
