Bravery award for foiling chip shop robbery

David Leeks, 23, has been given a police bravery award after pinning down an armed robber. Credit: Serena Sandhu / ITV Anglia

A shop owner from Shoeburyness in Essex has been given a bravery award after he was injured as he pinned an armed robber to the ground. David Leeks, 23, was stabbed in the head with a chisel as he wrestled to get the robber into a headlock.

A robber armed with a chisel entered the West Road Fish Bar in Shoeburyness in January 2011 but shop owner David Leeks and his sister Charlotte pinned him to the ground until the police arrived. As David grabbed the robber he was stabbed in the head with a chisel.

33-year-old Martin Dennington was jailed for four years for the robbery.

David has just been presented with a Police Public Bravery award from Essex Police for his actions last January. It's the only one awarded in the county this year but David was remaining modest.

David Leeks has just been presented with a Police Public Bravery award from Essex Police Credit: ITV Anglia