Milnsbridge Church minister robbed at Knifepoint

Apr 2 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A CHURCH minister was left traumatised after he was robbed by a menacing knifeman.

Rev Mike Roberts, from Milnsbridge Baptist Church, was attacked yards from his home on Mount Street in Cowlersley.

Mr Roberts, 27, said: “He grabbed me from behind and pushed me. I stumbled and he pushed me to the floor.

“As he was leaning over me, he took my rucksack, which had a laptop, camera and Blackberry inside.

“I could see the handle of a knife in his pocket.

“He said: ‘If you don’t give me it, you’ll get it.’

“I tried to follow him. He tried to hide in a garden, then when he saw me on the phone to the police he ran off.”

CCTV from a nearby shop captured a suspect escaping with the bag.

The laptop contained irreplaceable photographs of Mr Roberts’s 2006 wedding to wife Sarah.

Mr Roberts was in church on Sunday following the incident at about 4pm last Wednesday afternoon.

But he handed over responsibility for leading the service to his regional minister.