Meet the brave Leeds dad who confronted and put ‘the fear of God into’ machete-wielding thugs during shop raid

Christopher Bruce was getting some last minute bits for Christmas on December 23, 2021, at the Londis store on Wetherby Road in Whinmoor when the three men carrying weapons entered.

Mr Bruce said that his concern for the lone shopkeeper – who he had become familiar with through regular visits – and growing anger during the raid spurred him on to bravely stand up to the men, telling them to: “Make it quick and leave.”

As tensions rose one of them swung the weapon at Mr Bruce and he responded by grabbing a crate of beer and throwing it at them as they fled the store.

Mr Bruce was honoured for his actions at the Leeds District Police Awards Ceremony at Elland Road stadium last night (Thursday), where he received the District Commanders Commendation award.

CCTV footage of the amazing moment, which you can view above, was played to the room and Mr Bruce spoke to the YEP afterwards.

The father-of-two said he was aiming to get home at 7.30pm that night and pulled into the store an hour before to get some drinks and “say hello to the people behind the counter”.

Mr Bruce said: “I was bent down in the corner looking at the offers when I heard the door open quite loud and someone say ‘Don’t do anything!’. Then I heard a little bit of a squeal. I slowly stood up and looked to my right and about four or five foot away there was a machete in my face.”

He said that one of the three men was a “main aggressor that was controlling what was going on” and threatening the store worker and those in the shop not to do anything. Two of the men went behind the till while the third threatened Mr Bruce and another member of the public in the store at the time.