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A Chinese takeaway boss chased two knife-wielding raiders out of his shop with a giant spoon.

Soon Chai, owner of the Empire Chinese Takeaway in Thurso, Caithness, scared off the would-be thieves.

The 51-year-old stood his ground when Damon Mackay and Thomas Deighan, wearing makeshift face masks and each ­brandishing a knife, burst into his premises in the town’s Princes Street.

Soon said: “They held up a knife at me – it must have been seven or eight inches long – and they told me to clear the till.

“My wife Lisa was also in the shop at the time, so I told her to pass me a big wooden spoon we use for cooking and I chased them out.

“I wasn’t frightened, but I wasn’t going to let them rob me. I didn’t close up ­afterwards, I just carried on working.”

MacKay, 27, and Deighan, 23, have been jailed for 28 and 23 months respectively at Wick Sheriff Court after admitting attempted robbery.

Sheriff Andrew Berry praised the “very plucky” actions of Soon in chasing the pair from his premises.