A shopkeeper relived in Court a terrifying robbery ordeal during which he was forced at gunpoint to hand over two gold rings from his fingers.

Ishvarlal Bhanabhia was working at Amba Stores in Scholemoor Lane, Lidget Green, Bradford, when two raiders burst in.

One pointed a sawn-off shotgun towards Mr Bhanabhia and the weapon was discharged as a customer in the shop rushed past the raider to get away.

The blast hit a display of alcohol.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that it was then that one of the robbers noticed two gold rings on the shopkeeper's right hand and demanded them from him.

Mr Bhanabhia told a jury that a guru had given him one of the rings as a gift together with a blessed stone, which he had also had set into another gold ring. He said the robber told him to take off the rings but he was shaking and couldn't get them off.

The gunman then shouted: "Get them off or I'll blow your hand off."

Eventually the shopkeeper was able to hand the rings over and the gunman's accomplice, who was wearing a balaclava mask, escaped from the shop with a till containing an estimated £300 in takings.

Ishfaq Ali, 22, of Jasmin Terrace, Girlington, is accused of being part of a conspiracy to commit robberies.

Ali, who has denied the charge, is said to be linked to three raids including the attack on Mr Bhanabhia's store last March.

The prosecution allege that Ali is also linked to a robbery at the Shell 24-hour service station in Saltaire a week later and a raid on the Princeville Post Office in Legrams Lane.

Prosecutor David Kelly told the jury that when police officers searched the flat of a woman known to Ali, they found a pawn shop ticket for the two gold rings.

The jury heard that the robberies at the service station and the post office were committed within six hours of each other last April.

The prosecution allege that Ali was seen driving a stolen car used in the raids only a few hours before they took place.

During the raid on the service station, an assistant, Tariq Hussain, who was working alone in the early hours, was tricked into opening the door to the shop area and then attacked by the three robbers.

The raiders escaped with just cigarettes.

But less than six hours later the manager of the Princeville post office, Mumtaz Ali, was threatened with a shotgun minutes after he arrived to open up.

He was forced to open the time-lock safes and the robbers fled with money, stamps and postal orders.

The trial continues.