The pensioner caught the burglar trying to buy a bottle of whiskey with his money
A 90-year-old former boxer who had his wallet stolen by a criminal who came to his door pretending to be injured, following him to a nearby ASDA and hit him until he returned it.
The man, who has not been identified, was at his home in Hull when a stranger – since identified as Nicholas Norton – came to his door pretending to have injured his leg. While the pensioner went to to get him a cloth to clean his wound, Norton grabbed the man’s wallet and ran from the address.
The pensioner, who was a middleweight boxing champion in the Navy reserve, went after Norton and later found him at a nearby ASDA, on Beverley Road, where he confronted him at the till.
He told Hull Live, that despite having problems with his blood pressure, legs and my hands, he just wanted to “get my wallet back”, saying: “I know that pensioners are being robbed all the time and it’s not right.”
The pensioner had initially got his car to find Norton and only spotted him by chance when he used the supermarket carpark to turn around.
By then, Norton had already bought a 44p bar of chocolate using the pensioner’s card, and was trying to buy alcohol at the till.
“I found him at the till with a bottle of whisky and I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and smacked him on the chin,” the pensioner told Hull Live.
“I asked him where my wallet was and he said he didn’t have it, so I said to him, ‘do you want me to hit you again? Then he quickly emptied his pockets and gave me it.”
When the pensioner noticed his cards weren’t in his wallet, he asked Norton where they were. When told they were “hidden” outside, he “smacked” Norton again.
“Then he turned out his pockets and gave me my cards back,” the pensioner explained.
“I used to be a middleweight boxing champion in the Navy reserve, so I know how to punch. I keep myself fit for a 90-year-old because I fell out of a car a while ago and I have to do the exercises to stay strong.”
The pensioner said his daughter has called him a “silly bugger” for going after Norton, as he’s “too old to be doing stuff like that”.
“I’m not sure why I did it, it was just instinctive – it’s the principle of the thing. Hopefully now he’ll think twice before he robs another pensioner,” he said.
The Hull Crown Court was told Norton turned up at the pensioner’s home limping and claiming to have fallen off his bike and that when confronted at ASDA, the burglar dropped the whiskey, smashing it.
Prosecutor Rachel Scott said: “The complainant was concerned about what he would do with the bottle so punched him on the chin. He then held the defendant by the scruff of his neck while the defendant emptied his pockets and returned the bank cards.”
Norton, who has convictions for 80 previous offences, including 44 for theft, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
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