A COMMUNITY leader who tackled a machete-wielding armed robber is so shaken by the experience that he cannot bring himself to return to his civic duties.

Councillor Eric Turner, 70, burst in on two robbers, one of who was threatening his wife Edith with a 12-inch machete, and forced them out of his post office with a metal rod.

While Mr Turner was hailed a hero for his brave intervention to protect his family, privately he has been haunted by images of one of the thugs waving the machete around his head.

As one of Consett's most prominent community workers - he is chairman of North Durham Community Health Council and Derwentside District Council's planning committee - he has found it difficult to return to public duties.

He said: "I lead a very active life normally, but this has just taken the wind out of me. There is nobody who knows what it's like until it happens to them.

"I have not been back to work since it happened and I cannot face going to any of my meetings.

"These roles in the community feel like a duty I have to perform, but I'm not thinking straight in the head. There are 85,000 people in this district so making a mistake at that level could be disastrous."

His nights have been plagued with images of machetes and the implications of what could have happened to him and his family if he had failed to see off the robbers on January 2.

"I can see the machete slicing through the post office door, so I sometimes think of the effect it would have on me.

"But it's important for people to know that it is very hard to get over this kind of thing - you do not get over it overnight.

"My wife went back to working in the post office the next day because if she didn't, she probably never would. Behind that counter she was a rock for me, but once the curtains are closed it's a different matter. It has affected her dreadfully as well."

Mr Turner said he and Enid, who is in her mid-50s, have been overwhelmed by messages of support and flowers from the local community.