By Lesley Richards.

TONY Blair's former bodyguard has put his weight behind caring for customers -- at a Leigh store.

Multi martial arts black belt Carl Hayes took over as deputy store manager at the Leigh branch of Netto in October last year.

But his career followed an unusual path before he started at the Windermere Road supermarket.

He used to be responsible for protecting top celebrities including Tony Blair and boxer Nigel Benn.

A former weightlifter, Carl, who lives in Bolton, was shot at and stabbed four times during his "minding" days.

He said: "I don't like getting bored and have tried my hand at lots of different careers.

"Not many people would imagine that someone like Nigel Benn would need protecting - it's surprising what you learn about people.

"I did the job for about a year, but I didn't like some of the things I had to do and decided to get out."

To be a fully fledged bodyguard, Carl had to sign the Official Secrets Act - and is keeping mum on some of his more scandalous stories.

Carl left the St John Rigby College in Wigan and became a night shift manager with Tesco.

He left to travel abroad before coming back to join Kwik Save as a deputy manager in Blackpool where he started bodybuilding and became a black belt in judo, jujitsu and taekwondo.

He has also worked at Manchester Airport and is a qualified chef.

After he sold his own restaurant he went into the security business, serving eviction orders which he did not enjoy.

One of the guards there had a brother in the bodyguarding business and Carl joined him, working for "lots of rich people".

He said: "I really enjoy working at Netto. There is a lot of variety and I meet lots of different people.

"Our customers are very diverse and so is my job. One minute I can be sorting out a delivery and the next could be dealing with a customer inquiry.

"Every day is different -- but I haven't met any more celebrities yet."