A BRAVE boy was left shaken after a thug tried to steal his pet pooch – but he saved his dog by offering the man some cash to leave them alone.

The 12-year-old boy was approached by the man, aged between 30 and 40, while he was out walking his dog near Burleigh Square, in Thorpe Bay, on Tuesday evening.

The man threatened him with a knife and demanded he hand over his dog.

But the brave boy refused and gave the man some change instead.

The boy was not injured, but was understandably shaken by the incident.

The man is described as being white with short brown hair.

He was wearing black Nike tracksuit bottoms, a black hooded top, sunglasses, black gloves and a black scarf which has a white tribal-type pattern and covered his lower face.

Martin Terry, independent councillor for the Thorpe ward, said: “My initial reaction is that we are getting a lot of talk and focus about the town centre at the moment, but the level of crime is rising across the whole borough.

“Our issues are not confined to the town centre at all and incidents like this show that.

“It is another example of why we need more police and the reason we need more police is because people feel safe to carry a knife or a weapon, and if there were police on the streets conducting stop and searches, it would be a deterrent.

“But there is no deterrent at the moment at all and things will continue.

“I am a huge advocate of stop and search, but it only works if you have police on the streets to do the searches.

“I feel very sorry for this young lad, it seriously should not be happening and we need to get back to having a safe Southend.”

Witnesses or anyone with information are asked to contact PC Mike Ward at Southend CID or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.