WATCH: Doncaster Olympic star's cousin sees off knife wielding raider with baseball bat

This is the dramatic moment a relative of Doncaster Olympic hero Sarah Stevenson showed fighting spirit runs in the family – by clobbering a knife wielding raider who tried to rob her shop with a baseball bat.
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Fearless shop assistant Nicola Maddison leapt into action when the raider burst into a shop in Bentley in broad daylight earlier this week and demanded that she emptied the till.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE

Nicola, known as Nikki, is the cousin of Doncaster Olympic star Sarah Stevenson, who won bronze for Great Britain in tae kwondo at the 2008 games – and she proved that she has the same fighting spirit as her famous relative after giving the raider a taste of his own medicine by smacking him with the baseball bat after he demanded cash.

Nikki attacks the hooded raider with a baseball bat after he threatened her with a knife.Nikki attacks the hooded raider with a baseball bat after he threatened her with a knife.
Nikki attacks the hooded raider with a baseball bat after he threatened her with a knife.
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She said: “I work hard for my money and the shop and I wasn’t just going to let him come in and take it.

"I wasn’t scared at all. I just thought to myself ‘you’re not going to get away with this.’

Nikki, 50, was working at Select and Save on Askern Road, Bentley when the hooded raider burst in shortly after 5pm on Tuesday.

Waving a kitchen knife at her, he demanded the contents of the till. But undaunted, Nikki managed to distract the raider and grabbed hold of a baseball bat – and dished out a couple of hefty whacks.

Nikki is the cousin of Olympic hero Sarah Stevenson.Nikki is the cousin of Olympic hero Sarah Stevenson.
Nikki is the cousin of Olympic hero Sarah Stevenson.

WATCH MORE DRAMATIC FOOTAGE OF THE INCIDENT HERE

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She said: “I said to him ‘let me get past then’ and then I just whacked him on the legs. His only word was ‘owww’ and then my boss came out from the back of the shop and we managed to get him out.

"I gave him another smack as he was on the way out of the door.”

CCTV footage of the incident shows the raider fleeing the scene on a bicycle left outside the shop she has worked at for eight years.

Added Nikki: “This is the third time he’s done it now. I took the bat into the shop for my own protection in case he came back and its worked.”

"Someone must know who he is.”

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“People have been coming in the shop and calling me a hero, but it doesn’t feel like that at all.

"Instinct just took over. I wasn’t frightened at all.

"I’m not the kind of person who lets someone walk all over them so he was never going to get away with it.

"The fighting spirit obviously runs in the family!”

Posting about the incident on Facebook, former tae kwondo world champ Sarah wrote: “Don’t mess with my family. My amazing cousin -go on girl! Over 50 years old and still got it!”

Hailing from Bentley, Sarah competed for Team GB at four Olympic games, with the pinnacle of her achievements coming in 2008 when she won bronze in Beijing.

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She famously led the athletes’ oath at the 2012 games in London.

Anyone with information about the identity of the raider can contact South Yorkshire Police on 101 or pass details onto Select and Save.