Staff at a Helston shop were left fearing for their lives when a man threatened to come back with a machete - but it's been claimed not a single police officer responded to their 999 call.

When Spar manager Belinda Sharrinton saw him on the live CCTV upstairs she immediately grabbed the phone, and was speaking to an emergency call handler as she ran back down to the shop.

She had recognised him as wearing the same clothes as someone who she believed kicked in the shop door at 5am that day and returned at 7.30am to try to steal items from the shelves.

Ms Sharrinton told the Packet: "I said, 'I need someone to come. He's not the kind of person I want to deal with.' You get shoplifters all the time and you just deal with it, but he had a different feel about him."

Yet despite threatening to come back with a machete and a knife, because the man subsequently left the shop while she was on the phone, she was only told officers would search the area and to call again if he returned.

"That's all I've heard. To this day [three weeks on] I have not had a police officer in the shop, asking for camera footage or statements - and that's from a 999 call. It was an emergency," she added.

"The girls were quite afraid. They didn't want to walk to work. We're in early and it's dark, we go home and it's dark. Everybody is quite worried about their own safety.

"That side of it is quite concerning and you don't expect it in Helston. I've lived in Helston all my life and I've never felt like you shouldn't be able to walk through the town.

"The fact is we have not got any confidence that if we were in real trouble somebody would come and help. I think that's pretty disappointing."

It was the third set of incidents at Spar, in Meneage Street, in as many months, after thieves broke in and tried to get into the cigarette unit before fleeing, and then two weeks ago a group spent an hour and a half digging concrete out from the back door to try to get in.

On the same day as the machete threat, there is a police log reporting the same man as being abusive to staff at Superdrug in the town and throwing items.

They are the latest in a series of break-ins and attacks on shops in the town over the last few weeks, which has led to one town councillor claiming that Helston was "almost a no go area" at certain times of the week.

Councillor Mike Thomas said: "The residents of this town feel shortchanged. The sad fact is there are more empty police cars sat outside the police station than police officers in attendance. We also know the reason - it's slashing of budgets.

"My particular concern is Friday and Saturday nights. It is almost a no go area."

He went on to say: "It's probably a safe area for people who are residents, but for people that want to wander round [at night] I suspect they would feel very, very unsafe. I would like to see more police in the town at key points."

Mr Thomas stressed that people must report any incidents, so that a full log is created as evidence for why a stronger police presence was needed.

Mr Grattan-Kane, a former detective chief inspector with the Metropolitan Police, agreed: "Police are not visible in this town.

"We should be demanding more from our local police."

Councillor Miles Kenchington had asked for the matter of anti-social behaviour in Helston to be discussed by the town council when they met last Thursday, after concerns raised by members of the public over Coinage Ope the previous month.

Also a member of the new Helston CIC, Mr Kenchington said people had told him they "felt it very intimidating to come out" at night - and they were of all ages.

Councillors agreed to invite the police superintendent and Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez to meet with them, as well as speak with Safer Cornwall, the county's safety partnership.

The Packet had not received a comment from police as it went to press.