A SUB-POSTMASTER has quit his job after an attempted break-in at his home was linked to a chainsaw robbery at a nearby post office.

David Sell said he was too traumatised to continue at the post-office in Hovingham, near Malton, North Yorkshire, where he was robbed at knifepoint in 2000.

He resigned after an attempted break-in at his home was followed by a raid on the post office in Helmsley earlier this week. Raiders used a chainsaw to get in and attack postmaster Geoff Simpson.

Mr Sell said the trauma of the incident was comparable with the death of his mother.

"It was my dream of running a post office and stores in this lovely village among fantastic people," he said.

"But I am responsible for my staff, and to see their faces when we heard about Helmsley, and the trauma we actually went through before, it's on a par with the death of my mother. You have to put it up there."