A 60-YEAR-OLD shopkeeper has told how he confronted and chased off an intruder who broke into his newsagents at 3am.

Nick Shaw, who owns the Piccadilly newsagents on Trinity Street, Halstead was restocking his fridge when he heard a banging sound.

He went to investigate, and was shocked to find someone standing in the shop.

Mr Shaw said: “He had smashed the window on the front door and he was just coming round to the counter where the cigarettes are.

“We were a bit surprised to see each other and he just legged it.

“I swore at him and he shot through the front door.

“I followed him for a bit but couldn’t keep up.

“There were a couple of good people out there who called it in to the police.”

Mr Shaw, who has owned the shop for 37 years, said he was thinking of boarding up the shop front as this is the second time he has been targeted.

He said: “He must have hit the window about five or six times.

"He used a heavy coving slab and the whole sheet came out.

“This time I’m going to use plywood. What’s the point in putting glass in when someone is going to smash it again? This will reinforce it enough.

“Someone could have been hurt.”

It happened in the early hours on Tuesday, January 3.

He had seen two men trying to kick the door in a couple of years ago, and said burglars are going to carry on as they find it easier to break in.

He said: “There’s a small group of people and they know their techniques, it’s just a quick smash-and-grab but it affects a lot of people.

“There’s been a lot of break ins constantly over the past few years, people just have no conscience.

“They were very close to getting caught this time, though.”

Mr Shaw said it was an ongoing issue for shops with glass fronts.

He said: “It’s a vulnerable point and there’s no knowing when it will happen again.”

Call 101 with any information.