THIS is the dramatic moment the tables were turned on an armed robber as the owners of the shop he had targeted courageously fought back.

CCTV captured how the couple grappled with a knife-wielding thug who tried to raid their village store on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Clutching a knife that seconds earlier had been used to threaten her, brave Johanne Hole stands guard over Sam MacLachlan as her husband, Brian, holds him in a headlock until police arrive.

The couple have now been praised for their bravery by a judge as he jailed MacLachlan and his accomplice William Robinson for seven years each.

Judge Gary Burrell QC said they had terrified the couple who had shown incredible bravery. He awarded Mr and Mrs Hole £250 each as a mark of the court’s esteem.

During the trial, Southampton Crown Court had heard how the robbers had ensured all other customers had left the store before MacLachlan walked straight up to the counter and demanded: “Give me cash, quick.”

Jurors watched the footage captured by a security camera of the serial offender brandishing a large carving knife which he thrust at Mrs Hole before forcing his way behind the counter of Bartley Village Stores and Post Office, despite her frantic efforts to shut a door.

He then thumped her in the face, shattering her glasses which caused a cut under her right eyebrow that required eight stitches. Mrs Hole fell to the floor, somehow ending up with the weapon, as MacLachlan targeted the till.

But at that very moment her husband Brian came in and, during a struggle, put MacLachlan in a headlock, and the couple detained him for about ten minutes until the police arrived.

The police had been alerted to the attempted robbery when Mrs Hole pressed the alarm button underneath the counter. Meanwhile, Robinson drove off home but was arrested later.

After retiring for about two hours, jurors found Robinson, 47, of Rookery Farm, Eastleigh, and MacLachlan, 27, of Millbrook Road West, Southampton, guilty of conspiracy to rob. At an earlier hearing, MacLachlan had admitted assaulting Mr and Mrs Hole with intent to rob.

Jailing the pair, the judge told the defendants, who together had more than 20 previous convictions: “I have not detected any remorse from either of you.”

MacLachlan did not give evidence during his trial but Robinson said he had only gone into the shop to buy a copy of the Daily Echo so he could find a part-time job and did not realise MacLachlan – who had been drinking – was armed.

The judge activated a two-month suspended sentence imposed on MacLachlan for battery, which he ordered to run consecutively.