Bury St Edmunds Nostalgia - Michael Graver foiled armed raid at Thurlow Champness jewellers

In today's nostalgia, we transport back to 2012 when a 71-year-old man foiled an armed raid and recovered thousands of pounds worth of jewellery, a court heard.

Michael Graver confronted a man wielding a sledge hammer and grabbed a bag containing £22,000 worth of watches during the raid on Thurlow Champness jewellers in Bury St Edmunds.

At the time, the man who organised transport for the raid was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery at Ipswich Crown Court.

Dwayne Marsh, 34, of Dewey Road, Islington, hired a van to transport two scooters, which were used during the incident.

The court heard how Mr Graver, who was in the town centre shopping with his wife on February 28 in 2011, saw two scooters pull up outside the jewellers in Abbeygate Street.

One of the scooters was used to smash open the shop door, allowing the two passengers to run inside where sledgehammers were used to smash open display cabinets containing Rolex watches.

Mr Graver ran inside and was faced with a man holding a sledgehammer in one hand and a bag containing the stolen watches in the other. He said the man was more interested in getting out of the shop than attacking him.

The jury heard how as the man pushed past, Mr Graver tried to grab him but could not keep hold of his arm and he managed to reach the doorway.

Mr Graver said that as the robber fled he managed to keep hold of the bag containing the watches.