Tom Fenton
A grandmother has revealed how she successfully 'wellied' a now-convicted burglar, before showing mercy on the man when he attempted to flee.
79-year-old Wilma Alma caught burglar Nathan Taylor, 31, after he had broken into her home. Alma, from Perth in Scotland, then demanded that the hooded man empty his pockets.
However, after Taylor refused to do so, she lashed out, claiming that this led to a 15 minute scuffle between the pair.
After initially escaping, Alma took pity on the criminal, ultimately letting him flee out of fear of hurting him.
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She told The Sun: “I felt myself getting uptight so I had to let him go."
“I couldn’t have been answerable for what I was going to do to him. I let him go for his own safety really."
“I gave as good as I got - maybe even a little bit better than that. He’s no big hardman. He should be embarrassed.”
Alma states that she first realised something was wrong when she attempted to go back into her house from the garden to make a cup of tea.
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Noticing that her door was now locked, she had to get a spare key from a neighbour.
As she opened the door Alma spotted the hooded thief, and immediately went on the offensive when she saw that his pockets were lined with her possessions.
In the ensuing struggle, he dropped a £40 pair of earrings that he’d nabbed.
“I wellied right into him. I took hold of him with both hands and threw him against the stairs," Alma claims.
“I told him to give everything back but he said he was looking for someone called Willie.
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“We tussled for a while and I wouldn’t let the eejit go. You should have heard the language. My downstairs neighbour came round and told me to stop swearing.”
Despite the pensioners defiance, Taylor reportedly made off with all of with medication and and a jewellery collection that is worth around £1,000.
Most tragically of all, this also included Wilma's late husband's wedding ring.
She said: “It’s really upsetting that he got away with that. It’s irreplaceable because it’s the last thing I had of him.”
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The burglar was eventually caught thanks to neighbours calling the police on Alma's behalf. After correctly identifying him, the thief was jailed for just six months after confessing to the theft.
In light of the relatively short prison sentence, Wilma claims she'll be more than ready if dares come back to her home again.
"My pals have joked that they’re going to buy me a pair of boxing gloves. They might come in handy," she added.