A HAVE-A-GO hero shopkeeper chased a thug who stole a host of booze from his shop.

Jagdish Gokani, the owner of the Church Road Supermarket in Basildon, sprang to action after he spotted a man making off with multiple crates of beer in his arms.

The 67-year-old admitted his shop has previously been targeted, but insisted thefts had stopped until this incident.

The incident took place on Friday.

The store’s CCTV cameras recorded the man, dressed in a grey hoodie and wearing a face mask, walking into the store and towards the back.

Just seconds later, the man re-emerges on the footage with the crates of beer in his arms, before grabbing another small bottle and fleeing the store.

Mr Gokani can then be seen running out of the store to chase him.

Speaking to the Echo, the shopkeeper said: “It happened on Friday, right at the back of the shop, he took two cases of beer.

“He just ran away.

“I thought he might have put the money on the back of the counter, but he didn’t.

“I tried to chase but I couldn’t run as fast as him.

“He fled me just outside the shop.”

Mr Gokani said the total amount of items stolen came to around £25, and has since shared the footage online in hopes of trying to identify the thief.

He said that this was the first theft to have happened at his store in some time.

He added: “It happened at about quarter to one in the afternoon.

“I’ve been here for about 38 years.

“I used to have thefts before but it largely stopped for a while, but it started up again this year.

“He didn’t say anything, he just ran away.”

Report thefts and other crimes to police on 101.