Photo Credit: Rob Brewer

By Grace Darlington

A “heroic” night porter was brutally tortured by two robbers in a Lewisham hotel basement in the earlier hours of this morning.

Frank Stuart, 51, an employee at Jury’s hotel on Lewisham Way was bundled into the hotel’s storage room, tied up, hit with a hammer and slashed on his face when he refused to hand over the keys to the hotel’s safe, after he confronted the robbers breaking into a fruit machine in the hotel bar.

Jeremy Bates, manager at the Jury’s Hotel said: “We think Frank is a hero. He knew where the keys were and he kept quiet all along.”

Stuart’s wife, Maureen, 53, said: “How could people be so cruel?”

“The worse they got, the more determined he was to not let them get away with it.”

Detective Inspector James Dallowey said: “These men are particularly vicious and we are keen to catch them.”

The men were described as white with local accents, one in his early 20s, 5’11, of a stocky build with dark short hair. The other was described as around 30 years old, 5’4, thin build, with long brown hair.

The hotel is offering a £500 reward for the thieves’ arrest.