Hunt for a clumsy undiecover bandit with a sore head

A would-be robber who held up a shop wearing underpants as a mask fled empty-handed after he hurt himself.

A would-be robber who held up a shop wearing underpants as a mask fled empty-handed after he hurt himself.

The man had entered a Spar shop in south Wales, and scared the staff. But the blue-and-white briefs slipped over his eyes at a vital moment. He had yanked the till with such force it struck him on the head, knocking him to the floor and cutting his face.

Gwent detectives said the man, in his late teens or early 20s, then ran out of the shop, in Blackwood, and made a second attempt - just as unsuccessfully - to rob a nearby shop. Eventually, he gave up and took to his heels, still hiding his face with his Y-fronts. A police spokesman said: "He entered the shop wearing the pants on his head but they slipped down at a crucial moment.

"He had two holes cut in them so he could see through. This does not seem to have been the best-prepared attempt at robbery we have seen." He said they were looking for a person with a skinny build, close-cropped or shaven fair hair, wearing a cream-coloured jumper. He has a cut on his face.