Judge Susan Evans to recommend bravery award for Londis worker Nicola McEwan, as Christchurch man Benjamin Fooks is sentenced over incident at Stour Road store

A shop assistant who foiled a robbery on her store is to be recommended for a bravery award by a judge who jailed the would-be thief.

Nicola McEwan (52) stood up to Benjamin Fooks as he threatened her and another assistant with a screwdriver at the Londis on Stour Road, Christchurch.

Despite him screaming at them then repeatedly stabbing the shop counter with the weapon, Ms McEwan used a rum bottle to hold him off, then chased him out of the store.

She later told police that she had noticed Fooks (35) formerly of Riverway, Christchurch ,“flinch” when she picked up the bottle and decided he was a wimp so she “shouted at him to get out of the shop”.

Speaking after the sentencing – for attempted robbery and criminal damage – at Bournemouth Crown Court, DC Mohi Uddin from Dorset Police said: “She is a formidable lady. It was because of her bravery that he did not rob the store.

“She is a lovely lady, she actually said that if he had asked her for money she would have given it to him if he needed it.”

The court heard that Ms McEwan had “forgiven Fooks” and “wished he had asked for help”.

But her colleague, a woman in her 20s, had been left with “feelings of anxiety and sleeplessness” since the incident on 11th September 2022.

Fooks had gone into Londis and shouted at the women: “I know your names and where you live, open the f*****g tills.”

He had then produced the screwdriver with which he threatened them. But he left empty handed thanks to Ms McEwan who stood between her colleague and Fooks while brandishing the bottle.

Praising her actions, Judge Susan Evans said Ms McEwan had “showed considerable courage” and that she was going to recommend her for a High Sheriff’s award for the “bravery and fortitude that she showed”.

Fooks, who admitted the charges, appeared by video link from prison where he is serving a sentence for attacking his former girlfriend like a “boxer” and using her “like a punching bag”.

He was jailed for 27 months in August 2023 for the drunken attack on 4th April last year in Bournemouth.

Speaking about the attempted robbery the previous year, defence barrister Kevin Hill said the defendant had handed himself into police a month after he tried to rob the shop, but there had been unexplained delays in bringing him to court for it.

Mr Hill said Fooks had been using alcohol “to excess” to deal with his problems which included ADHD which he had been medicated for “for the first time in his life” in prison.

The barrister said this had “changed him entirely”, adding: He is much more settled and wishes he had been medicated before.”

“He says his life has turned him around and he recognises his many issues. He can now see a different life for himself in the future.”

Judge Evans said that from prison reports that she had read, Fooks had been a “model prisoner” and she had been “particularly impressed” by a letter he had written to the court expressing his remorse.

She sentenced him to 20 months in jail, half to be served in prison and the rest on licence.