My mates eased my bomb fears
BOY MEETS OFFICERS WHO EASED HIS NERVES
A LITTLE boy who feared a bomb would go off at a pop concert has been reunited with the hero armed officer who told him “we will protect you”.
Eight-year-old Christopher Storey was so frightened of a potential terrorist attack at the Little Mix gig at Durham County Cricket Club on Saturday that his mum thought she was going to have to take him home early.
But a caring armed police officer saved the day when he bent down on his knees to talk to Christopher, explaining he was there to protect him and “lots of his mates” would protect him too.
The officer spent five minutes chatting to the youngster, kindly reassuring him and telling him that Little Mix had sounded amazing during their warm-up, before seeing him on his way with a “fist bump”.
Touched by the policeman’s actions, Christopher’s mum Carolyn was desperate to trace him and personally thank him for coming to her son’s aid.
And now, the youngster has been reunited with PC Gavin Purdon and his colleague PC Kevin Olver at Durham Constabulary’s headquarters at Aykley Heads.
Carolyn, from Chester-le-Street, said: “It has been a brilliant day, Christopher has had a really good day, he bought them a card and a gave them a medal each.
“The police deserve all the praise they are getting with this, it’s been lovely to say a big thank you.
“People teach their children to say please and thank you and Christopher just got to give a bigger thank you than most.”
Carolyn had been getting ready with Christopher on the afternoon before the gig when he first voiced concerns about a bomb.
She said: “He said “I’m nervous, what if a bomb goes off?” My heart just sank, an eight-year-old shouldn’t be worried about that! We hadn’t spoken to him about what happened at the Ariana Grande concert as we thought he was too young to understand.”
After trying to reassure her son, they left in the car to drive to the gig but Carolyn could see that Christopher was becoming increasingly worried.
The mum-of-three decided to approach PC Purdon and tell him of Christopher’s concerns.
She said: “The officer seemed to immediately know what I meant and why Chris was scared. He immediately knelt on the floor and spent a good five minutes reassuring the bairn, telling him that they were there to protect us and that he had lots of his mates who would protect us too.
“He told Chris at the end that Little Mix sounded amazing during their warm-up and even offered to take us into the ground. We said we were fine, so he left us with a fist bump.”