TWO men have been honoured by Cumbria’s High Sheriff for the way they chased a gang of drunken thieves after a smash-and-grab raid on an Ambleside sweet shop.

James Carr presented Alexy Butler, 35, and his friend Alex Spence, 37, with signed certificates and £150 each at a ceremony at Carlisle Crown Court.

Judge Paul Batty QC authorised the rewards after he sentenced Jason Marvin, 39, of Leysdown Road, Birmingham, to do 80 hours of unpaid work when he pleaded guilty to burgling the Old Bridge House fudge shop.

Marvin was one of six men – all in Cumbria to fit gymnasium equipment at a hotel – who ran off with a haul which included £55 worth of sweets after they broke a window at the shop at the end of a drunken night out in January last year.

Alexy and Alex Spence heard the commotion and confronted the men, even though they were abusive and potentially violent.

While other locals came out of nearby pubs to help, the two men chased the thieves down the street and cornered one of them behind a bush until the police arrived.

Judge Batty said the thieves obviously had not “banked on the public spirited actions” of the two local men.

He told Alexy and Alex: “You were confronted by a gang of drunken men who tried to intimidate you, but you were having none of it and stood your ground.

“Your actions were of the highest order and you behaved in an extremely public spirited fashion in the highest traditions of Cumbrian men.”

The two men said they were determined to chase the thieves because, both coming from families who run other shops in the village, they knew how badly affected the owners of the fudge shop would be.

Alex, whose family have had a flower shop for 30 years, said: “Everyone these days is struggling to get along and the last thing they need is somebody doing what these men did. It just seemed wrong.”

And Alexy, who family own an outdoor equipment shop, said: “They obviously thought that because Ambleside is a small, sleepy place they could get away withy it.

“We wanted to prove they were wrong.”