A fish and chip shop manager was tied up at knifepoint by a robber who stole the firm's takings from his home.

Steven Parratt, 33, manager of Ivanhoes fish and chip shop in Central Parade, Cleckheaton, was tricked into allowing a man he knew to stay with him after falling for a story that his car had broken down.

A short time after he went to bed, he awoke to find the man threatening him with a bread knife.

"He wanted to know where the takings were so I told him," said Mr Parratt, of Whitcliffe Road.

"He told me to turn over and put my hands behind my back while he tied them with the cord from my bathrobe. My first reaction was that he was joking, but I soon realised he wasn't."

A terrified Mr Parratt was then marched to the bathroom.

"I kept asking me why he was doing it and he said 'a lot of people are chasing me for thousands,'" said Mr Parratt who was forced to lie face down in the bath.

"That was the most frightening point because I knew what he had in his hand then and knew he could do something stupid at any moment.

"I haven't been back to the house yet since it happened. It has been an awful year. My grandmother went into hospital with a stroke in January and I was also burgled that month."

The man barricaded the bathroom door using a broom handle and bits of wood before severing the telephone line. Mr Parratt had to break down the bathroom door to get out and ran back to the shop where he rang his boss, who alerted the police.

The robber escaped with takings of more than £500, a video recorder valued at £200, a Playstation worth £270 and 200 CDs, valued at £3,000.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have heard anything or saw a man carrying a Head sports bag and a black bin liner early last Friday to contact Detective Constable Martin Buggy at Dewsbury CID on (01924) 431085.