Jeweller died saving daughter from robbers

A shop owner who was shot during an armed raid on a family jewellery store died while trying to save her daughter, according to her widower.

Marian Bates, 64, was working the family-run shop in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, with her husband, Victor, and their daughter Xanthe, 34, when two armed robbers stormed in.

Mr Bates, 64, described how his wife leapt in front of her daughter when one of the attackers produced a handgun and was shot in the chest.

"My wife ran forward to get between the gunman and my daughter and he shot her dead," said Mr Bates, who had opened the store with his wife 25 years earlier.

"She was a brave woman, not at all foolhardy. She was protecting her daughter like every mother. I was standing above her in a daze. I just couldn't do anything, I was in shock. I realised before she was taken to hospital that she was dead."

Police urged witnesses to come forward. The two thieves, who were in their late teens or early twenties, were confronted by members of the public as they fled on a stolen scooter.