HE had no sooner left his office with the day's takings when he was ambushed.

An armed robber pressed a firearm into his back, beat him mercilessly over the head and grabbing his brief case crammed with cash and cheques, sprinted away across waste land and into the dark.

"I was just about to step into the car when I was attacked," Stan Brocklehurst told the Echo of his headline making ordeal. "I had tossed the briefcase on the seat and was leaning forward to step into the driving seat when someone stuck something into my ribs.

"I hear a voice over my shoulder say 'This is a stick-up'. I turned round instinctively and caught sight of a man who appeared to be wearing something dark around his head, like a balaclava helmet. Almost immediately I was struck over the head."

Ironically it was the one of the rare occasions he had left work by himself. Normally he would have done so with colleagues but he was going out that evening and needed to leave early.

The dramatic robbery, which mobilised the full resources of Southampton CID to track down the hooded gunman, happened outside the Southampton Motor Mart at about 7pm on February 2, 1952.

The 40-year-old victim, who was treated in hospital for four scalp wounds which necessitated five stitches, had been cashing up with other members of staff.

Theorising on the potential robber, Mr Brocklehurst said: "It is possible that someone who had been at the sale had waited on the off-chance that I might leave alone with the money."

He was discovered injured by colleague Frank Holmes who had accompanied him to the office door and spoke to him as he walked towards his car some 20ft away.

"I heard a strange noise – it wasn't quite a shout – and I went to the door to see what had happened. As I opened the door, Mr Brocklehurst staggered inside, his face was streaming with blood from a wound on his head and his forehead."

He immediately rang 999 and the first police patrol car was on the scene within three minutes. All roads in the vicinity were cordoned off, particularly the approaches to the waste land that stretched from the Central Station to the new docks, part of which was occupied by a military camp.

Though no servicemen could provide them with information, troops assisted police reinforcements in a wide stretch of the area. A special watch was also conducted at the town's railway and bus stations and the investigation was widened to interviews with ships crews and dock workers.

The distinctive light brown leather briefcase, measuring 16 inches by 12 inches with a chromium adjustable fastener and two buckles on either side, had contained almost £400 in notes, mostly fivers, and £6,500 in cheques endorsed with the stamp 'Southampton Motor Action Mart Ltd' in purple ink.

As the hold-up happened on a Saturday night, detectives and firm officials worked through the weekend completing a list of all the cheques so payment on them could be stopped and banks warned of attempts to cash them.

Police issued a description of the wanted man, said to be about 30 years old, rather tall and of medium build. He had been wearing a dark overcoat and dark hood – possibly a grey balaclava helmet – which concealed most of his case.

However no one was brought to trial.