ARMED raiders brandishing a sawn off shotgun and an axe attempted to lock a Tyldesley nightclub owner and her staff in a cellar during a £5,000 robbery.

Licensee Mary Abbott, 56, her son Paul, 28, and a cleaner - on his first day in the job - were ordered into the cellar as the thugs grabbed the weekend's takings from the Limelight Club.

Detectives hunting the thugs are now sifting through similar crimes throughout the North-west, which may have been committed by the same men.

The two masked thugs burst into the Limelight Club, Lime Street, at 10.30am on Monday, as Mrs Abbott - who has owned the club for 10 years - was counting the takings with her son Paul, who is also the club manager. The cleaner, who also works as a barman, was also in the premises.

As one of the thugs brandished a shotgun, partly concealed in a carrier bag, his accomplice threatened Mrs Abbott with an axe. The cleaner was ordered down onto the floor before all three were then frogmarched into the cellar and ordered to remain there. The thugs were then unable to lock the cellar door.

The three raised the alarm five minutes later when Mr Abbott emerged from the cellar after "arming" himself with a golf club.

Mrs Abbott was in no doubt that the raider wielding the axe would have used the weapon if he had been challenged.

"It was a nightmare and I was terrified Paul was going to have a go at them. I think they would have killed him if he had."

Mrs Abbott, a licensee for 20 years, was formerly at the Fleece, Westleigh, and the Queens in Tyldesley.

She said: "Nothing like this has ever happened before. When I first saw them in the club lounge I thought it was a joke.

"But when I saw the weapons and they ordered us to hand over the cash I realised it was for real. It really was terrifying."

Detectives have released descriptions of the two men, who are both white. One is about 6ft tall, wearing a black top and light grey woolly type tracksuit bottoms. The second man is about 5ft 10ins, wearing a beige jacket with yellow and grey stripes and blue Adidas tracksuit bottoms.

Anyone with information, who may have seen the thugs before or after the crime, is asked to contact Leigh CID, tel: 0161 856 7240, or Crimestoppers on the free phone number 0800 555 111.

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