Durham heroes thwart Christmas mugger
Dec 2 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal
THE victim of a bus stop mugging last night praised two have-a-go-heroes – including an off-duty police officer – who caught her attacker and returned the stolen cash she had set aside for Christmas presents.
Vicky Telfer thought the money for presents for her nieces and nephews and their children had gone for good when a man snatched her purse containing £175 as she stood at a bus stop.
But the policeman and a friend were driving past and they chase down the offender as he tried to flee.
Ms Telfer, 61, was waiting for a bus home after attending Mass at St Cuthbert’s Church in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, on Saturday night.
A man standing next to her at the bus stop in the town’s Ropery Lane asked her for a cigarette, and when she obliged, he asked her for money.
Reliving her ordeal last night, Ms Telfer said: “I looked in my purse and handed him a 10p and two 5p pieces. He said he was waiting for a bus to visit his girlfriend.
“He then told me he needed £1.70. I thought to myself, ‘Yes, you need it for a pint,’ and told him I did not have that amount.
“He lunged forward and tugged at my purse. I fell forward and hurt my knee as I tried to hang on to it, but he snatched it and ran off along a footpath.”
Ms Telfer ran to nearby Windsor Court where a friend lives, and tearfully asked her to ring the police.
Meanwhile she saw another friend returning from Mass and told her what had happened. Her friend searched the ground and found her purse.
Ms Telfer, a retired clerk and typist, added: “It was empty. I was distraught, it all happened so fast, and then a police car pulled up. But my attacker had been caught and the money found. An off-duty police officer from Sunderland and his friend had seen the man run off and given chase. They caught him on a roundabout nearby.”
Northumbria Police Sgt Simon Wotton, based at Sunderland, and his friend Bill Spalding, a school technician, were driving past when they saw what happened and drove off in pursuit of the robber.
Ms Telfer said: “I gave them both a great big hug. They were real heroes chasing after that man and preventing him from ruining my Christmas. I am still shaken by what happened but grateful to know that there are still some very good people around.”
A man, 25, from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, was remanded in custody by Consett magistrates yesterday charged with robbery.
Page 2: It was 'a bit of sport' says rescuer who was going for a pint
