Grandma fights off armed gang

2011-02-08 16:22

London - An angry grandmother used her handbag to fight off a gang of sledgehammer-wielding robbers who were attempting to raid a jeweller's shop in a British town, media reported on Tuesday.

The woman in her 70s was captured on video running across a road to confront the crash-helmeted gang.

Wielding her handbag, she hit three of the six robbers and one fell off his moped as he tried to make his escape during the botched raid in Northampton, central England.

Eyewitness Sarah-Jane Brown told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "She was amazing. We were terrified but she ran down the road with her handbag in the air. She did not seem scared."

The gang had been foiled when staff in the shop activated metal shutters to protect the windows.

Five men have been arrested. The woman's identity has not been revealed.

- SAPA