Brave teen takes on robbers

A teenager has been hailed a hero after he faced off with a hammer-wielding robber outside a convenience store.

Brandon Hook, 16, gave chase when two men - one with a basket full of unpaid goods - fled from the Co-op in Kennington, near Ashford.

He stepped in at about 9pm on October 2 when one of the pair started to threaten a member of staff with a hammer.

Brandon, who is training to join the military, refused to back down and the would-be robber ran away empty-handed.

“I want to be in the military when I am older, so I can’t be scared of going against a guy with a hammer stealing something from a shop,” Brandon said.

“My instinct was to go and help because it’s my nearby shop and I know people who work there.

“I got in the way between the man and the worker he was trying to hit and told him to go away.”

Brandon says the military course he is studying gave him the confidence to act.

Brandon spotted one of the pair acting suspiciously when he was in the shop.

He was about to ride his bike home when the altercation happened at a bus stop by the Co-op entrance.

Brandon added: “I went to the bus stop where they were and one of the staff was on the phone to the police and the other was struggling to get the basket off one of the men. He then got a hammer out and started threatening a member of staff.”

Staff at the Co-op praised the teenager and rewarded him with a box of chocolates.