A man is in Police custody following a daring daylight robbery at a Devonshire store yesterday morning.

The suspect entered the Bermuda Paint Company, on Brighton Hill Road, just before 10.30 a.m., casually walked up to a cashier and demanded money.

The staff member put up no resistance and handed the money over to the intruder who then left.

But staff members followed the robber out of the store and were later able to give Police a detailed description of the man. Police squad cars were also quickly on the scene shortly after the alarm was raised and a man was arrested a few hours later in Pembroke.

A Police spokeswoman later confirmed that a 31-year-old man had been arrested although she dismissed early radio reports that a weapon had been used in the raid. Police are also refusing to say how much money was stolen, although they did say that the takings had yet to be recovered.

"Police received reports from the Bermuda Paint Company at about 10.30 a.m.,'' the spokeswoman said. "One of the members of staff was counting cash in the main office.

"The suspect walked in and demanded the money. The cashier just handed it over and he walked out.

"He was followed by staff who were able to get a good description of him and passed that on to Police.

"Officers picked up a suspect on Palmetto Road just before 2 p.m. A 31-year-old man of no fixed abode has been arrested and is now in Police custody. A court appearance is expected shortly.'' Last night Bermuda Paint Company general manager John Carey praised both his staff and Police for the way they handled the incident.

"It was not a very nice day,'' Mr. Carey said. "But our cashier acted very coolly and calmly. The money is incidental compared to someone's health and well-being.

"All our staff are very cool about it and I'm very impressed with the people we have here -- no one really panicked.

"I was also very impressed with the way the Police handled themselves. They were here very quickly and had the place surrounded.

"Three of us followed him out but we didn't want to get too close -- we just wanted to see where he was going.''