7 Feb 2011

Woman armed with handbag tackles smash and grab robbers

Four men have been arrested in connection with an attempted robbery in Northampton after footage emerged of an apparently elderly woman confronting the gang and forcing them to flee.

A group arrived at a prominent jewellers in Northampton on Monday and allegedly attempted to steal goods but were confronted by a would-be-hero wielding a handbag.

Six men on motorbikes arrived at the Michael Jones Jewellers and attempted to smash windows of the shop with sledgehammers.

As staff tried to close the shop’s shutters to prevent the alleged thieves from stealing any goods, a woman ran at the gang from the other side of the street and hit them with her handbag.

As the gang tried to flee, two suspects fell from a motorbike. While one managed to escape another was held to the ground by passers by.

Police

Northampton police said on Monday that they were treating the footage as authentic and the investigation is of a real crime. They had later arrested another three men in connection with the attempted robbery.

“The four men, aged 18, 22, 25 and 39, were all arrested shortly after the incident that took place at 9.30am at Michael Jones Jewellers, on the corner of Gold Street and Bridge Street,” police said.

Police are looking for two other people believed to have been involved in the incident. Both are thought to be men and were wearing crash helmets after arriving at the scene on a motorbike.

Officers are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed this incident to contact them.

Witnesses or anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police on 03000 111 222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.