A 65-YEAR-OLD shopkeeper sent a startled robber packing when she produced a 10in knife during a raid.

Hooded raider Brian Magor, 31, produced a three-inch knife and demanded the takings at the shop in Errington Street, Brotton, East Cleveland.

But in a scene reminiscent of the Hollywood blockbuster Crocodile Dundee, Marjorie Garner, who has run the shop for 25 years, produced her blade and told him: "You're not getting the money. I'll stick this in you if you come any nearer."

Magor fled as she shouted to her five dogs which were in the back of the shop, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.

Magor was arrested soon after but he claimed he was forced to do it by two other men, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Marjorie's daughter Lynne, 41, who was working the National Lottery ticket machine at the shop in Errington Street, Brotton, told police: "I thought it was a joke at first.

"He had a knife pointing towards my mother's head.

"My mother's knife, which she was using to remove staples from magazines was a lot bigger."

Magor, of Rawlinson Road, Carlin How, East Cleveland, pleads not guilty to attempted robbery in November 2000 on grounds of duress.

Marjorie said in a statement read to the jury: "I was quite stunned and shocked.

"I waved my knife hoping to deter him and to make him go.

"I shouted to the dogs which were in the back room of our shop, and he turned and ran."

Magor, who admitted his involvement in the incident, said in evidence that it was his third attempted robbery that day.

He said he acted after a man claimed he owed him £60 for damaging his sweater which was later used for the balaclava and gloves.

Michael Bosomworth, defending, asked him: "How did you feel when she pointed her knife at you?". He replied: "I was s****ing myself".

Magor said that he had been flooded out of his home in Skinningrove, and had been sleeping on the floor of a house with two drug addicts. They threatened him with a baseball bat beating unless he carried out the robbery, he claimed.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict last night and was sent home until today.

The case continues.