TWO men besieged a shop before one - armed with a blade and a hammer - threatened to slit the throats of terrified workers inside, a court heard.

And the man who defended the York shop and its staff against the attackers has been cleared of wrongdoing, after he was prosecuted for his part in the drama.

Andrew Philip Bartle, 45, pinned Daniel John Rocks to the floor and hit him to the face and head several times with a food tin in Fishergate News, claimed Alasdair Campbell, for the CPS.

Rocks had started the violence in the shop after arguing with a young woman shopworker.

York Crown Court heard he threatened the woman that “it will be the last thing you do” if she rang police and together with his friend Alex Hartwig, fought with Mr Bartle, the partner of the shop owner.

After Rocks and Hartwig had been forced out of the shop, staff had to hold the door shut against them as they returned more than once, said Mr Campbell.

Hartwig armed himself with a blade and threatened to slit throats before leaving and returning with a hammer, the jury heard.

“What on earth must the good folk of York have thought seeing these jokers behaving like this on a Sunday afternoon right in the heart of the city,” said the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, on seeing CCTV of the pair outside the shop on September 24.

“This is absolutely disgraceful.”

Telling the jury at York Crown Court to acquit Mr Bartle, he said: “You may well wonder why he was prosecuted in the first place. That was certainly my view.

“Mr Bartle was simply doing no more than work and defend his shop and family. Rocks got what he richly deserved, you may think.”

Mr Bartle, of Foxwood Lane, York, denied affray and was formally acquitted when the prosecution stopped presenting evidence two hours into the trial.

Mr Campbell said Rocks suffered two wounds on his head each of which required four staples inserting in hospital.

During his opening, Mr Campbell told the jury: “The Crown accepts very much a degree of sympathy for Mr Bartle for what went on before and afterwards, but the position of the Crown is that he went too far.”

In a statement read to the jury, the young woman said Rocks’ behaviour towards her had made her shake with fear.

Rocks, 41, then living off Fishergate, York, and Hartwig, 30, of Wenlock Terrace, York, have both admitted affray. Hartwig has also admitted carrying a hammer and a blade. Both men will be sentenced tomorrow.