A young shopkeeper from the West Midlands is recovering after a savage bite from a thief he chased from his store.
Paul Hodgkiss, 27, who runs the Boldmere Road Spar near Sutton Coldfield with his brother Michael, had caught and restrained one of three men involved in the attempted theft but was bitten on the shoulder minutes before police arrived.
Paul, who also owns a Spar store in central Birmingham, was alerted to the three men by his supervisor and manager who recognised two of the group from previous attempts to steal from the shop.
Paul told C-Store: “I was out the back when we spotted the men on the CCTV. They were in the process of doing what we had seen them do before - taking cans of Tennent’s Super lager and putting them in the open top freezer ready to grab as they left the shop.
“I saw two of them run out of the store with the cans so I chased them round the corner and down an alleyway. I restrained one of them but just as my manager came round the corner the man I was holding got loose and bit me on the shoulder. I was able to hold on to him until the police arrived and put him in handcuffs.”
Paul needed a tetanus jab and suffered severe bruising from the pressure of the bite. However, he is adamant he would do exactly the same in the future and added: “We don’t have security guards in our stores as we want people to know we can handle ourselves.
“In our new store in the centre of Birmingham we were having two or three incidents a day when we first opened but they have died down a lot now as people know we will not let them get away with it.”
Paul Hodgkiss, 27, who runs the Boldmere Road Spar near Sutton Coldfield with his brother Michael, had caught and restrained one of three men involved in the attempted theft but was bitten on the shoulder minutes before police arrived.
Paul, who also owns a Spar store in central Birmingham, was alerted to the three men by his supervisor and manager who recognised two of the group from previous attempts to steal from the shop.
Paul told C-Store: “I was out the back when we spotted the men on the CCTV. They were in the process of doing what we had seen them do before - taking cans of Tennent’s Super lager and putting them in the open top freezer ready to grab as they left the shop.
“I saw two of them run out of the store with the cans so I chased them round the corner and down an alleyway. I restrained one of them but just as my manager came round the corner the man I was holding got loose and bit me on the shoulder. I was able to hold on to him until the police arrived and put him in handcuffs.”
Paul needed a tetanus jab and suffered severe bruising from the pressure of the bite. However, he is adamant he would do exactly the same in the future and added: “We don’t have security guards in our stores as we want people to know we can handle ourselves.
“In our new store in the centre of Birmingham we were having two or three incidents a day when we first opened but they have died down a lot now as people know we will not let them get away with it.”
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