A cafe owner has spoken of the terrifying moment she was threatened with a knife, hit on the back of the head and punched in the face by a robber.

Val Hook was attacked as she arrived to open up Poppy’s Cafe in Minster Road, Halfway.

As she was getting ready for the day, two men knocked on the back window and one of them - who was very well-spoken - said they needed to get into the flat upstairs.

Because she knew the man living there had been unwell, the 47-year-old assumed he was a doctor and unlocked the door.

The other man, who spoke with an eastern European accent, pushed her inside, threatened her with a knife and demanded she open the till.

As Val turned, he hit her on the back of the head.

The mum-of-one, who has run the cafe with husband Andrew for three years, said: "When he hit me I thought he'd stabbed me – it was more than a punch so I don’t know if he hit me with the knife handle."

He took the money in the till - between £30 and £40 - and then saw her handbag and demanded her purse.

Mrs Hook told him there was no money inside, but when he saw there was none he punched her in the face.

"He knocked my glasses off and broke them," she said. "Then the other guy, who had waited outside, said 'that's enough, come on'.

"I couldn’t see properly because my glasses were on the floor but they just ran off out the back."

Police outside Poppy's Cafe in Halfway after a robbery

Mrs Hook was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital and released later that day.

She had swelling on the back of her head as well as a swollen cheek bone and bruising after the attack, at about 6.15am on Thursday.

"He’s a nasty young man and if it hadn’t been for that other bloke, I think he would have really laid into me," she added.

"I would give somebody my last penny if they needed it – why would somebody want to attack me like that?

"But I’m alive – it could've been a lot worse."

The well-spoken man is described as white, in his late 40s, around 6ft, with short light brown hair and wearing a blue jacket and a white top.

The other was of eastern European appearance, around 5ft 6ins, with scruffy short black hair and wearing dark trousers and a burnt orange coloured t-shirt, with a tattoo on his right arm.

Anyone with information is asked to phone Kent Police on 101 or Kent Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference XY/23205/12.