Varsha Patel acted swiftly when two balaclava-clad men burst in clutching 10-inch knives and lunged over the counter at the till. The mother of two who has run the shop with her husband Yogesh, 50, for 20 years, was about to throw a bottle of whisky at them when they fled her store in Kensworth, Bedfordshire, with just a Lottery scratchcard dispenser.