A shopworker who almost died after he was shot as he tried to stop a robbery has received the highest accolade at a national bravery awards ceremony.
Colin Thomas, 27, was working in a branch of Costco cash and carry in Croydon when five masked men stormed into the store smashing jewellery cabinets and demanding cash.
Mr Thomas, who was on his first shift after being promoted to store supervisor, heard the alarm and ran towards the commotion.
He confronted the gang but as they fled one shouted to an accomplice “shoot him” and the shop worker was blasted at close range in the stomach with a sawn-off shotgun.
The gunmen then made off with £70,000 of jewellery, leaving Mr Thomas writhing on the floor. He said: “It all seemed to happen in seconds. I heard the alarm go off and glass shattering and ran over. The gunman shot me in the stomach. There was no warning and he was standing just a few feet from me wearing a balaclava.
“I was conscious but felt the life draining out of me. I started to feel really weak, like my body was shutting down. I was scared, I thought I was probably going to die.
“When the ambulance came I felt I had a fighting chance and when the ambulance guy told me my pulse was stable it felt like really good news.”
Mr Thomas spent five weeks in intensive care after the shooting in 2009 and has had five operations, the final one last November. He has now returned to work at the same store.
He later found out that two off-duty Met officers helped stem his bleeding and kept him conscious until an ambulance arrived.
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Detective Inspector Gary Smith said: “I was there with my family and DS Simon Mearns. I heard the commotion and my daughter ran over screaming: ‘It’s a robbery.’ I told them to stay at the back of the store.
“Customers were screaming and there was utter panic. We heard the shot and after making sure everyone was safe we ran over to where the victim was on the floor. We pressed his gunshot wound to stop the bleeding.
“We kept him conscious until the ambulance arrived about 25 minutes later. He was very brave to do what he did.”
Gunman Yohan Clarke, 33, was jailed for 22 years.
Mr Thomas won the Binney Medal for civilian bravery for his actions.
The medal, named in honour of Captain Ralph Binney who died in 1944 trying to arrest “smash and grab” thieves in London, was presented to him at the annual police and public bravery awards in Manchester.
A posthumous gold award was given to Sukhwinder Singh, 31, who was stabbed to death in 2010 after chasing two muggers who had attacked a 28-year-old woman in Barking.
