Women's Refusal To Be Victims Results In Amazing Battle And Win Vs. Violent RobberThursday November 13, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
Neither one of them looks like they weigh more than about 150 lbs. soaking wet. But two young women in England took on a threatening robber and not only got the better of him, but managed to hold him for police in a scene that played out like something in a movie.
Nichola Burke is just 30 and a single mother. Her co-worker is 34-year-old Sally Hamilton. Both toil in relative obscurity at a legal betting parlour in the city of Leeds.
Or at least they did until last Saturday night.
Burke had already had an aggravating day at work when a man entered the place just before 7:30pm. He quickly ran behind the counter and assaulted the young mom, demanding she hand over the day's receipts.
But after having such a terrible day on the job, a fed-up Burke was in no mood to have it end this way. She began fighting back against her attacker, as money flew all over the front of the shop. Hamilton, who had been having a cigarette break in an adjoining room, rushed in when she heard the sounds of a struggle and quickly joined in the battle.
It was now two against one, and despite being in a gambling den, the robber decided he didn't like those odds. So he tried to flee.
He didn't get far.
When the man attempted to open the front door, his panicked haste caused the automatic security system to lock him inside.
Now really frantic to get away, he grabbed a nearby stool and began bashing at the entrance. Seizing their advantage, the woman rushed over and began bashing his head against the door.
At that point, the hapless crook turned and ran toward a fire exit. In his panic, he missed the fact that there was a key in the lock and wound up being unable to get out that way, either.
So he tried one last door, flinging it open and rushing towards what looked like an way out.
It wasn't.
The man had stumbled into a storage closet instead, at which point Burke rushed over and locked the door behind him, effectively trapping him inside. She called police, but as she was waiting for help to arrive, she heard the intruder kicking inside his temporary prison.
She realized he was trying to punch a hole in the roof. So she ran upstairs to where he was going to emerge and waited for the first signs of him. When he swung up through the hole, she swung too - with a baseball bat, pummeling the unfortunate bandit and forcing him to abandon his final escape route.
By this time, police had arrived. Burke unlocked the closet and they took him into custody. Days later, the diminutive mom has become something of a celebrity in the U.K., admitting she simply saw red and wasn't about to let him get away with it.
"When it was going on, I didn't think about the consequences," she told the Telegraph newspaper. "I was just angry at his cheek and wanted to stop him."
And stop him she did.
A 28-year-old has been charged in the incident.
