A teenage coffee shop worker has scooped a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Charlotte Kerwood, 19, from Fletching, near Uckfield, came first in the women's double trap pairs clay pigeon shooting alongside Surrey's Rachel Parish.

The former Lewes college student was celebrating with team-mates last night in the Commonwealth village bar.

She said: "I didn't know whether we had won or not but Rachel came running over and said we had and it was fantastic - I just started crying."

The ecstatic sharp-shooter awoke her parents with a phone call to tell them the news from Australia at 1.30am yesterday.

Mum Jan, 45, said she started crying when she was told and the telephone had been ringing all day with messages of congratulations.

She said: "It's just brilliant. Unfortunately we missed it so we're hoping it will be repeated on television later because she's done really well."

The glamour of a Commonwealth gold is a far cry from her her part-time job in Starbucks, at Sainsbury's, Haywards Heath.

Manager Julie Penfold said: "It's absolutely fantastic. We knew she was a shooter but we didn't realise how good she was until she asked for a month off to go to Australia and we asked why."

Family members - including Charlotte's brother Daniel, 16 - and friends were planning to celebrate last night at the Northall shooting club run by Charlotte's dad Dan.

Charlotte is the reining Commonwealth champion in the singles event and hopes to defend her title on Thursday.

Dan, who is also her coach, told The Argus: "She's obviously going to be on a high now and she's really enjoying Australia as she's got a lot of friends over there so she's very relaxed and confident. Fingers crossed she can do the business on Thursday.

"There will be a few bottles of champagne after yesterday's win and major celebrations if it goes well on Thursday."

Charlotte has undergone intensive training for the past three months at the Heights Gym in Burgess Hill where she has been circuit training and running to lose weight.

Personal trainer Kevin Mottley said she had stuck to the regime and had worked extremely hard.

He said she would have the confidence after the weekend to defend her title and hopefully return home as a double Commonwealth gold medalist.

Nutley's Julia Lydall was also among the medals in the shooting. Along with 19-year-old Georgina Geikie, Lydall, 21, took bronze in the women's 10m air pistol pairs.