A SUPERMARKET security officer hero is to get a £350 reward for intervening when two armed men had a pre-arranged fight in the store’s car park.

Knifeman Robert Kenneth Kitchen, 35, said “I could stab that bloke” after he and Steven Stewart, 33, had angry words at the self service checkout, said James Howard, prosecuting.

Outside Stewart hit Kitchen on the head with a homemade cosh of a sock containing rocks. Kitchen stabbed and slashed at him.

The Recorder of York Judge Sean Morris told York Crown Court Kitchen could have disembowelled Stewart.

He praised security officer Stuart Smith who repeatedly told Kitchen to drop the knife before pinioning his arm and disarming him.

"That was a very, very brave thing to do," said the judge granting a £350 award.

He described Kitchen and Stewart as "Two stupid men who got themselves wound up over a woman and met to have an armed fight.

"This is North Yorkshire, not the Wild West. "

Kitchen, of South Street, Scarborough, and Stewart, of West Square, Scarborough, admitted affray. Kitchen admitted carrying a knife and Stewart carrying an offensive weapon in Tesco car park in Westwood, Scarborough, on April 7, 2020.

Kitchen was jailed for 11 months and Stewart for nine months.

Tabitha Buck for Kitchen and Graham Parkin for Stewart said the defendants had mental health and drug or alcohol problems they were tackling with help. Both regretted their actions.

Ms Buck said Kitchen had acted out of bravado.

Mr Parkin said Stewart''s conviction would ban him from his chosen career of working in a care home.