A MASKED raider held a cashier at gunpoint as he robbed a Hampshire betting shop.

The robber went into the Don Simmons shop in Park Gate wielding a gun at 9.55am yesterday and demanded the 52-year-old staff member empty the till.

The worker handed a significant amount of money over to the man, who was wearing dark sunglasses and had covered his face with a scarf. He put the cash into a well-used orange carrier bag and fled from the shop in Station Road.

Police have been carrying out door-to-door enquiries following the raid, which has left the quiet community unnerved.

Perry Williams, manager at next door shop, Douglas Knight Sunblinds, first knew that something had happened when scores of police descended on the betting shop next to his own premises.

"There were police everywhere, there must have been about seven or eight cars outside the shop and cars patrolling around the area too. That's when I knew something had happened,'' he said.

Jan Cooper, of A T Cooper grocers, said people in the area had been talking about it all day: "You just don't expect anything like that to happen here.''

The man has been described as white, 5ft 10in to 6ft and wore a dark yellow three-quarter length waterproof jacket, a black woollen hat rolled up, wrap around dark sunglasses and a scarf around his lower face.

Call 0845 0454545 or the anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.