Newsagent honoured for helping Post Office raid family

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A NEWSAGENT who helped out colleagues after their son was murdered in a vicious armed robbery has been given a national award.

Mary Field, who ran a newsagents in Foleshill for 32 years, was asked to take over the running of a post office in Bromsgrove after Craig Hodson-Walker was killed in 2009.

The 29-year-old had rushed to his parents’ aide after a trio of armed robbers entered their shop with a sledgehammer and a hand gun.

In the melee that followed he was fatally wounded, and his dad Ken was shot in the leg.

In the days that followed members of the community tried to keep Fairfield Stores in Fairfield, going but the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) asked Mary to step in and offer some expert help.

She didn’t hesitate, spending 10 weeks helping Mr Hodson-Walker’s family keep the shop going.

And to mark her efforts the NFRN named her their member of the year at a glitzy ceremony in London.

Mary, of Hartland Avenue, Stoke Heath, said: “I just got a phone call asking if could help out.

"When I went to see the shop I didn’t know exactly what was going on.

“They wanted someone to help with the basics and I was happy to do that.

“I just had to do my best to keep the place together. I knew the family were struggling, as you would expect.”

After helping out Mary, 64, returned to mucking in when needed at newsagents around Coventry.

When she was invited to the NFRM awards ceremony she thought she had been nominated for a different award.

“I thought I was up for lifetime achievement,” she said. “But when that was given to a really worthy colleague I just sat back and relaxed.

“As soon as they started talking about the next award I knew it referred to me.

“It was just amazing to win it surrounded by so many friends we have built up over the years.”

The trio responsible for the armed raid on the newsagents were jailed for life after a 10-week trial.