Female bar owner throws out armed robber with her bare hands as he tries to stage hold-up

A female bar owner has seen off an armed robber - by shoving him out of the door with her bare hands.

Nathalie Leclerc-Pelan was caught on CCTV as she stormed up the to hapless would-be attacker, pushed aside his gun and forced him out back of the doors using her bare hands.

Ms Leclerc-Pelan is seen cradling a customer's baby as the masked youth armed with a pistol enters her bar in the small town of Champ-du-Boult in the Normandy region of France.

She calmly put down the child before returning and making it clear that there would be no gunmen emptying the till in her establishment.

"I thought for a moment that it might be a joke," Ms Leclerc-Pelan told the Ouest-France newspaper after her ordeal.

Local news sites reported that two shots were fired during the brief altercation but no-one was hurt.

The attacker, aged 21, fled on a scooter but was arrested shortly afterwards when he returned back to the scene of the crime a few minutes afterwards.

"I think he understood the gravity of the situation and thought he might get away with it if he came to apologize," Ms Leclerc-Pelan added.