This incredible CCTV footage, taken from Shildon Post-Office And Stores in County Durham in North East England, shows a heroic shopkeeper and his wife tackling an ax-wielding thug who was attempting to rob their store.

A masked man, later identified as 31-year-old Shaun Andrew McKerry, burst into the store at 8 pm with an accomplice lurking close behind, raising an ax above his head and demanding that the terrified female shop assistant, put the money in the bag.

The storeowners, 46-year-old Sab Dhillon, and his wife Sam were upstairs at the time, but luckily they heard a crashing sound and then saw what was happening on camera, before running downstairs to help.

When he arrived on the scene, Sab then put his own life by making a split-second decision to fight off the thug. He charged at the crook from behind and ramming his head into a shelf, then grabbed hold of his jacket and dragged him back away from the assistant.

Off-camera Sab then continued to struggle with the ax-man, while the assistant closed the shop door to keep the other assailant away.

Just then Sab came back into view, crashing into a nearby rack as he successfully grappled the villain to the floor and took his back. The thug tried to swing his ax, and so Sab began to wrestle for control of it with one arm, while the other was firmly wrapped around the man’s neck.

At that point his wife Sam arrived, having picked up a baseball bat from the back of the store, and she was able to hit the robber a couple of times, breaking his nose in the process, which led to him releasing his hold on the ax.

Sam then gave him a few more hits with the bat for good measure, while Sab showed his knowledge of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by applying a rear-naked chokehold, which enabled him able to subdue the thief until police arrived on the scene.

Later, Sab told ‘The Mirror’ newspaper that his adrenalin kicked in when he first saw what was happening in his store.

I just wanted to get him away from my staff, Sab said, adding, I didn’t think about what might happen.

Afterwards, it emerged that McKerry was well known to police, having been arrested over 80 times by the age of 15, leading to him being nicknamed the ‘Boomerang Boy’ at that time.

His one-man crime-spree had continued into his adult life, and in the weeks leading up to the event documented here, he had robbed four other stores.

However, thanks to Sab and Sam, McKerry is now serving a six-year sentence for the attempted armed robbery of their store.