ARMED police hunted for a man after an attempted mugging and an armed robbery were carried out in quick succession.

First a woman reported that a man had threatened to stab her and demanded money in St Wilfreds Road, Burgess Hill.

Then police responded to reports that a man had threatened a shop worker with a knife at the Worlds End Post Office in nearby Leylands Road.

A hunt for the suspect was launched and firearms officers arrested a man matching the description of the suspect for both incidents shortly afterwards. There were no injuries.

At 7.53pm on Monday a man entered the post office and demanded a staff member handed over a bottle of alcohol.

The woman then called police to report the attempted mugging, which happened just minutes before.

She said that, when the man demanded money, she had walked off and the man had fled.

A 23-year-old man from Crawley has been arrested on suspicion of robbery, attempted robbery, assaulting a police officer and possession of cannabis. He has been questioned and released on bail until March 9.

Detective inspector Cheryl Lewendon said: “We were quickly able to make an arrest after responding to the report of the incident at the post office.

“We would still like to hear from anyone who witnessed either of the two incidents.”

Anyone who witnessed the incidents is asked to report online or ring 101 quoting serial 1371 of 10/02.