Burglars stunned as gran yells: Are you ready for me?

THREE burglars thought granny Alice Irwin’s home was easy pickings – till she turned on them with a stick and made them flee.

The burglars were stunned The burglars were stunned

The young men posed as water board officials but when 67-year-old Alice realised their true intentions, she grabbed the shillelagh from a wall and yelled: “Are you ready for me?”

She said yesterday: “They seemed frozen to the spot and realised they had picked on the wrong person. They thought I was an easy target – but I am not soft. I grew up in Belfast and I won’t be pushed around.”

Mother-of-five Alice grabbed one by the neck and started bashing the others with her shillelagh. They eventually broke free and escaped with her purse and £400.

But Alice had alerted neighbours in Accrington, Lancashire, who noted the raiders’ van registration and called police.

They stopped the white van and seized one of the men, William Dear, 26. Another, James Connor, 18, swam a canal to flee officers but was picked out later by Alice at an identity parade. The third burglar escaped.

Yesterday Alice was hailed a heroine as a judge at Burnley Crown Court sentenced Dear and Connor, from Leeds, to 16 months in prison for burglary.

Alice, who has 17 grandchildren, said she hoped she would inspire more pensioners to defend themselves. “I don’t think I was brave,” she said, “they were trying to rob me and I defended my home.”

She said that initially two of the  men called at her home claiming they needed to check the water supply. When they asked her to fill a kettle, she turned and saw a third man walk in. “I grabbed one by the neck,” she said, “it was just my immediate reaction.”

 

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