What do you think about this lady?

Is this for real? If so,she has guts.
I love that! :)

She’s very brave and obviously civic minded. Her gender and age probably helped her, in that attacking an old woman is still beyond the pale for most people, even armed robbers. I think it’s likely that if a younger man had been the first to intervene the sledgehammers might have been used on him.

@lucillelucillelucille Yes it is real. It was on our news last night. Think she should be recruited to our police force. Forget the guns… give the police handbags… it certainly worked for her LOLL
@meiosis Yes a brave lady indeed. I don’t think I would have had the courage to face the robbers – how about you?

@partyparty I love it :)

Yeah I nearly asked the same question here myself. Good for her say I, although it’s striking that all those burly blokes stood watching while she did her ninja gran act. Only when the villains fled did they summon up the courage to chase them. I do however think it was hilarious the way she ran all that way to kick arse. I could hear Benny Hill music in my ears as she bore down on them. Well done supergran, typical British true grit :¬)

Fiesty Lady. The headline also made me smile. Beating off is a juvenile slang term in the US for masturbating.

@partyparty I’d like to think I’d do something, but I’m not so sure I actually would.

@Adirondackwannabe Now I know that, it made me snigger as well

@partyparty You could be onto something there, giving the cops handbags. It would be more than they currently have because i think cops there don’t have guns anyway?

@woodcutter No, no guns for all but a few specially trained firearms officers.

I would have pulled out my phone and called 911 (or the British equivalent), but not physically attacked them.

I think it was just a reaction. She wasn’t thinking that she might get hurt.

More people should step up like she did. I would give her a big hug!

Awesome!

Alright, I really do emotionally love this woman, but I have to pull back…

…There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity/recklessness…and I think this woman is on the wrong side of it.

- She put herself in real, serious risk of severe physical harm – not to protect someone else, but to protect the luxury property of another.

- This is an assumption, but I would not be surprised if the store would be insured against such loss.

- The police are not releasing her name as they are concerned that members of the gang not in custody could target her.

- If she has family that cares for her, it is almost selfish of her to subject them to that potential loss to save, again, jewelry.

What makes this story happy is that the woman was lucky. Although some consider this an example of civic responsibility, it’s equally arguable that it was extremely irresponsible. She didn’t know if the thieves had weapons that could have caused unintended harm. And I don’t believe I’m fearmongering when I say that, seriously, if I was a member of this gang or doing this sort of thing, I would be certain that I was armed differently or would take different risks in order to ensure that, next time, no one would feel so emboldened.

@ucme Yes she ran from such a distance, I am sure she couldn’t have known whether they were armed could she? Love the thought of the Benny Hill music!
@Adirondackwannabe Oops I must remember that in future LOLL
@marinelife Who knows why she did it. Perhaps she was having a bad day and just wanted to vent her anger LOL
@Cruiser She could have been badly hurt though. As @ucme said the burly men just stood around and watched her
@downtide I wonder if she has digested exactly what she did yesterday? I hope she is feeling happy and amused by it!
@iamthemob Yes understand what you are saying – perhaps she was extremely foolish. I think what stands out in this story is the fact that she is a pensioner!

@partyparty – I agree – but that really just makes the story more sensational and lends to the viral capacity of it.

I’m not saying that she doesn’t read like a folk hero right now – but in the end, I feel like the message is so dependent on the chance that she wasn’t hurt. If she had been killed, I feel like the message would very well be the opposite.

I think a huge part of the problem is the criminal mind set is no pun, banking on people not wanting to get involved. They know the majority of the people will stand idly by and not get involved. I still say good for her.

Broad daylight and helmets and scooters for get away… hmmm… not criminal masterminds and I’m not surprised they were frightened by an old lady with a hand bag. The one guy they caught there, (after he fell off his moped, LOL!) will surely piss himself at the station and give up his friends. Idiots.

Good on her. The experience to assess the situation, but I don’t know if I would have started hitting them with a handbag, scaring them off. I think I would have just tried to delay them.. perhaps that was what she was thinking… the police weren’t far away, so I’m not sure if it was her that frightened them, or if it was the encroaching representatives of the law.

(and remember, Americans, this was in the UK. There are far far fewer armed robberies, so this woman had it sussed out that there was very little chance of a gun in this situation. I’d NEVER do this in the US.. I’d call 911 and run like hell.)

Their getaway mopeds??

those kids were stupid wanna be criminals. It’s the only reason she wasn’t smoked right there on the spot. Gotta love her cajones though.

“It’s the only reason she wasn’t smoked right there on the spot”

Not really. I think the fact that few people, armed robbers included, like to batter old ladies about the head with sledgehammers may have had a hand in protecting her, along with our lack of a gun culture.

@cazzie No these robbers weren’t armed, but I think I can see them attempting to smash windows with either hammers or a baseball bat. Still could do some damage to her. Don’t think I would have challenged these people.
@ladymia69 Yes I thought their getaway mopeds were very amusing LOLL

@meiosis Like I said they were uncommitted to do what they needed to do to succeed with their criminal activity, which was a good thing but here in the states so many gunless thugs are some of the most brutal people on Earth. They don’t play and should be taken very seriously to the point that a gun is about the only thing that will stop them, that is if there was proper firearm training beforehand. I suppose it would be nice to be in a place where the criminals are considerate of others but it should never be something to count on.