A teenager is hailing her boyfriend a hero after he gave chase to a drunken knife-wielding thug.

As he waved a knife in their face, hooded David Grimshaw had asked them a chilling question: “Are you ready to die tonight?”

The full story of Peter Sparks and Holly Barker’s midnight ordeal last month had emerged at Maidstone Crown Court.

Grimshaw, from Rochester, was given a suspended sentence by the judge after he said the 19-year-old would be given “one more chance”.

But the sentence has angered Peter, 22, and Holly, 19, both from Rochester, who believe Grimshaw should have been locked up immediately in view of the knife

crime crackdown.

They have been to see Medway MP Bob Marshall-Andrews, who told them he would be writing to the Crown Prosecution Service about the sentence.

It emerged during the court hearing that Peter had run after Grimshaw and detained him until police arrived.

Holly said: “He was very brave to do that, he is my hero.”

Peter said: “I did what any boyfriend would do. I tried to protect my girlfriend.”

Full story in Monday's print edition of the Medway Messenger