Worth £10,000 and a George Cross ?

[Scylax]

Have just seen the TV news of a supremely brave elderly lady in Northampton who, single-handed, tackled a gang of youths armed with sledgehammers, who were robbing premises, smashing windows, etc. She drove them off with her handbag. 2 or 3 of the gang have been arrested. The others fled on motor-scooters.
This lady truly deserves a medal with a blue ribbon AND a substantial monetary reward.

[sara3]

brave, but if one of them had turned on her she'd have been in big trouble.

[askyourgran]

The lady is lucky to be alive I think, what would have been said if she had been assaulted doing her public spirited duty?

[NazNomad]

supremely brave = extremely stupid in this case (imo).

[jake-the-peg]

Do you want to encourage people to do this sort of thing?

If you do are you prepared to take responsibility for encouraging it when someone gets killed?

To my mind it's like the fire brigade

If you see a small fire you can tackle locally it's your responsibility to step in and put it out.

If you see a house blazing on fire and rush in putting yourself and possibly others at risk you're an idiot.

[Scylax]

Doesn't ANYONE recognise sheer courage when they see it ? Of course she was in mortal danger.... all VCs and GC winners were in mortal danger, but they did what was right despite that danger. That's the definition of courage, not stupidity.

My uncle, an RAF officer, won a George Cross for an act which put his life in danger, and nobody could ever accuse him of stupidity. This lady did the same - give credit where it is due.

[neil42]

am suprised the police didnt arrest her for assault.

[Invictas]

I am sorry but I don't buy into this "brave person stops robbers" myth!
Why?
On the first floor of our flats lives a single guy.Back in about 1980 (when he was 30) he too tackled robbers to prevent them robbing (oddly enough a jewellers).
He was however badly beaten about and attacked severely.
He was in a coma for 6 weeks,and his brain functions have never been the same since.
Back there was no Criminal Injuries Board to award compensation,he got zero from the mean spirited jewellers!
Since then he has had to live on the basic state benefits,he still finds it difficult when he has to go for assessments because the DWP tend not to believe his story.
So, just to point out that it may sound brave and wonderful,but she is lucky she didn't end up like this guy

[daffy654]

I've just seen the video of this on the Daily Mail website, she came running at them from quite a distance whilst some numpty just stood there filming the whole thing.
I think it was her age that actually stpped the robbers attacking her, if it had been a younger person they probably wouldn't have hesitated at setting about them with the hammers.

[daffy654]

http://www.dailymail....ng-thugs-handbag.html

[Bbbananas]

An admirable spur of the moment action, but extremely stupid. She'd have been beaten senselessly if it wasn't for her age....

[douglas9401]

I'm sure the baddies of the world are comforted to know that we're all crouched behind the sofa waiting for "somebody to DO something".
The lady is to be admired.

[jake-the-peg]

Douglas - I'm a karate black belt

My instructor, a policeman once said to me you don't win a fight - you survive one.

If I'd had to wade in to extract some old Granny from a buch of thugs and ended up with a broken spine would you be supporting my familly or would you be on here posting about how terrible the world was.

People who do this sort of thing are loose cannons - not to be admired as some sort of vigillante fantasy

[Ankou]

"..all VCs and GC winners were in mortal danger, but they did what was right despite that danger."

in the name of duty to queen and country. the woman was lucky, this time.

[Booldawg]

I used to love Supergran on TV.

[Ankou]

stand back superman, ice man, spiderman, batman and robin too......

[VHG]

While I do admire what she did I have to say she was rather stupid and could asily have been kiiled.

However the way these cowards ran off when she approached does show that if there had been a policeman anywhere nearby this crime would not have happened.

It is purely because people KNOW there are no police around that they can get away with this sort of crime.

We need to spend MORE on crime prevention and have more bobbies on the beat rather than reduce the number of policemen.

[VHG]

I notice the Mail says

>>>Do you know Super Gran? Call the Daily Mail newsroom on.....

I hope her face is NOT splashed all over the newspapers. If so I am afraid her life may be in danger.

[sp1814]

Very brave woman, but there's also the point that if she'd been a young bloke, there is a far greater chance that the villains would 'have a go'. There's still the vestigial reluctance, even amongst armed robbers, to smash an old woman to the ground (perhaps psychologically she reminded them of an elderly relative?)

I doubt very much that she struck a chord of fear in them per se.

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

I take it that you would not jump into a lake to save a drowning child then?