Daughter saw Widdrington dad beaten by shop raider

Jun 19 2009 by Garry Willey, The Journal

A VILLAGE shopkeeper told last night how his young daughter was left traumatised after witnessing a vicious attack on him by a masked raider.

Eight-year-old Ravendeep Singh was writing her Christmas card list at the counter as her father Dilbinder looked after the family shop when Malcolm Mather came in wearing a ski mask.

Mr Singh grabbed hold of the raider as he tried to steal beer, but Mather then launched an assault on him, punching and kicking him as he lay on the floor.

Ravendeep was crying and screaming hysterically as she watched the attack on her father, but Mather continued to punch him even when the pair ended up outside the general dealer’s store in East Acres, Widdrington Station, Northumberland.

Yesterday Mather, 26, of Second Row, Linton, Northumberland was jailed for three and a half years after admitting attempted robbery and assault at Newcastle Crown Court.

The attack, which happened just days before Christmas, left Mr Singh suffering pain to his back, neck arms and legs. Some of his teeth were also loosened by the blows, the court heard.