Image caption Cpl Robinson showed "conspicuous bravery", his medal citation says

An Iraq war veteran has been awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal for confronting an armed robber in a betting shop.

Cpl Jason Robinson ordered the thief in Birmingham to stop, at which point a gun was aimed at him and the trigger pulled, although it did not fire.

The 27-year-old, who deploys to Afghanistan on Sunday, chased him out of the Ladbrokes and a mile down the road in the raid in August last year.

His medal citation said he acted with "total disregard for his own safety".

Cpl Robinson, a driver with the Queen's Royal Hussars, was in the bookmakers in Acocks Green when Shazad Mahmood began threatening staff with a handgun.

After telling him to stop, the soldier ran towards him at which point the weapon was turned on him.

Large machete

Mahmood left empty-handed after the confrontation, but was chased by Cpl Robinson who only stopped when the getaway car was driven at him.

But the soldier managed to record the vehicle's registration number - evidence which led to the robber pleading guilty in court.

Mahmood, of Tenby Road, Moseley, was jailed for nine years in January.

He had armed himself with a large machete in the same betting shop six days earlier when he stole £1,390.

Cpl Robinson, originally from Peterlee, County Durham, but now living in Solihull, West Midlands, said: "I just did what anybody else would have done.

"I guess I'm used to seeing guns and weapons, so I was able to realise the gun wasn't loaded."

The Queen's Gallantry Medal is primarily a civilian award. Cpl Robinson's citation said his actions were "of the most conspicuous bravery".