A schoolboy who unwittingly worked unpaid at a Londis convenience store has given £1,000 to charity after donations flooded in to reimburse him for his hard work.

Jay El-Leboudy, 15, stacked shelves at the Londis in St Martin's Hill for 10 weeks in the belief that he would be paid - only for owners to tell him it was just work experience and claim they could not legally pay him.

But after his mum highlighted the issue online, a fundraising page was set up for him by angry supporters. It quickly attracted dozens of donations totalling more than £2,000.

VIDEO: Teen's generosity after working 10 weeks unpaid. Sarah Boast reports

Now, Jay, from Park View, Sturry, has handed over half of the cash to Catching Lives - a charity that helps the homeless.

He plans to give the other £1,000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital where he was treated as a baby.

He told KentOnline: "I was working in Londis and I'd been paid once before then. When I didn't get paid for 10 weeks they said they needed to get permission from the council.

"I mentioned it after 10 weeks as it was getting a bit ridiculous and they basically said it was voluntary work.

"We raised about £2,000. Someone else set it up just to get £30. I was owed £135 from the unpaid shifts but I got over £2,000 which was really confusing.

"I thought 'I don't know what I'm going to do with two grand' so thought I'd give some to Great Ormond Street because they helped me when I was younger.

"I'll be keeping a couple of hundred, just what I was owed."

Jay wants to warn other young people to make sure they are on the payroll when starting a new job.

His mum, Zoe Buckwell, said: "I was really disappointed for him because he'd worked really hard. He kept saying he was looking forward to getting his Christmas money.

"I'm so proud of him, when he offered to give it away to charity and Great Ormond Street I was really pleased and happy.

"He was at the hospital when he was a baby so it's really nice that he can give that back to them, I'm really proud."

Chairman of the board of trustees at Catching Lives, James Duff, said: "It's genuinely inspiring and touching what Jay has done.

"I think a lot of young people get a lot of bad press and I think this shows that actually that's not the case."

Londis has been approached for comment.