Watch: Newsagent chases off store raiders with sledgehammer

Seyho "Mario" Kurt, owner of Brooksby, is out of hospital and back behind the counter after the incident in the early hours of Wednesday, March 16.

CCTV footage from the shop shows two people arriving on a motorbike at 1.35am. While one waits on the bike, the other uses a sledgehammer to smash the glass door and enter.

Mario’s daughter was the first to race to the scene from the family’s flat, to which the front door is next to the shop.

"My daughter heard them from upstairs," Mario said. ‘She ran downstairs and I think she got too close."

Mario arrived seconds later and picked up the hammer, which had been left outside.

He scared off the burglar, who dropped the stolen goods, which consisted mostly of cigarettes.

"I chased him off with his own hammer," said the 51-year-old. "But I was barefoot and lost my [left middle] toe running on the broken glass."

He said burglars last targeted the shop on June 25 last year.

"This has happened to me three times before," he said. "And I definitely think that crime is becoming a problem in this area.

"People are having their cars stolen all over Highgate."

He added: "We've got to find these people."

A Met Police spokesperson said no arrests have been made but that enquiries continue.

The Highgate Society is helping Mario with his application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Francis Wilkinson, the society's secretary, said: "I can’t recall an equally serious incident happening at any of the businesses on the High Street, and I hope that he’ll get compensation."