2025 Winner
BOB BELL, CHERYL GOURLAY, AISHA JAVID & USMAN JAVID
Shop workers tackled an armed robber who threatened them with a gun during a terrifying raid on a convenience store.
Last June a masked man burst into the Nisa Local store in Abbeyview, Dunfermline, brandishing a handgun and demanding all the cash in the till.
He pointed the pistol in the face of post office worker Cheryl Gourlay, 43, who refused to give him the money prompting him to climb over the counter and force her out of the way.
Quick thinking shop worker Bob Bell, 34, leapt into action, jumping over the counter, grabbing the robber and hitting him on the head before restraining him.
Hearing the commotion shop owners Aisha Javid, 55, and her son Usman, 35, rushed to help Bob and together they managed to bring the gunman to the floor and disarm him of the gun and a knife he had concealed in his clothes.
Cheryl said: “It happened so fast that I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t really have time to think about it. Maybe I should have just let him take the money because there wasn’t much in there but my instincts kicked in and I just wanted to protect the shop.”
Aisha added: “It all just happened so fast, my fight or flight reaction kicked in. I grabbed the gun because I knew I needed to get it away from him. I wasn’t thinking anything other than how dare you come into my shop.
“You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re in that position and I was more concerned about the staff than myself – Cheryl put her life on the line.
“She should have just given him the money but she didn’t. Then Bob came and we both tackled him and got him down on the floor and kept him there until the police came and arrested him.”
Robert Danskin was later jailed for seven years for attempted robbery with an imitation firearm.
Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Scott told him: “Those in the shop who faced you and stopped you from succeeding in this robbery had no way of knowing that the gun was not real. They acted despite how terrifying a situation you created.”