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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Susie Beever

Granddad dubbed 'Tyson Fury' fights back against hammer-wielding robber in shop attack

A gutsy granddad has been nicknamed 'Tyson Fury' after facing up to a hammer-armed robber in his jewellery shop - and marching him out empty-handed.

Dramatic CCTV captured the moment Elise Abelson, 73, and husband Malcom, 78, confronted the would-be robber in their jewellers in Manchester earlier this week.

The man stormed into the shop on Monday wielding a claw hammer, but was shown who's boss after brave Malcolm grappled with the thug, overpowering him, whilst Elise pounded the alarm button.

The couple then bundled the criminal out of their shop before he sprinted away without so much as a pearl earring.

Malcolm and Elise were thankfully unhurt in the drama, but have been warned by impressed but horrified family members not to attempt such a feat again.

Dramatic footage shows the moment they fended off the would-be robber (Abelsons/MEN MEDIA)

Elise, from Manchester, said: "He came at about 10 to one, and asked to look at a necklace and I showed it to him.

"He said 'while you're there, can I look at those diamond bracelets'. He said they were for his girlfriend.

"As I turned around to show him, I noticed he had black gloves on and something rang a bell. It just looked weird.

"They weren't normal gloves, they were a thick, plastic type of glove.

"He put his gloved hand out and asked to have a look so I held onto them and draped them over his hand.

"Then he said 'give me them, give me them' and there was no way I was giving him them so I started tugging them back.

"I managed to open the drawer and get the panic button out and Malcom sussed what was happening. Malcom thought he had taken them off me.

The couple opened the shop as normal the following day (MEN MEDIA)

"The fella goes to the door, Malcom tried to grab him, the alarm is going like crazy and he gets a hammer out.

"It must have been up his sleeve but because Malcom was so close to him, I don't think he had chance to raise his hand and hit us.

"He was very close, he tried to hit Malcom more than me, I was hitting him in the knees.

"He didn't have the room to manoeuvre the hammer. I was kicking and Malcom had him around his waist but he managed to run away.

"I wasn't letting go of those bracelets so he didn't take anything.

"If you asked me what I'd do if someone came in to steal something like that I would say 'here you are, take it. Go away'.

"When it comes to it, the adrenaline kicks in. I thought 'you aren't taking what I've paid for mister'."

Elise said the man had been hanging around the shop earlier that day and asked to see the same necklace but said he wanted to shop around before he came back.

Elise said: "I saw this gentleman looking in the window in the morning and he walked away.

"About half an hour later, he saw a necklace in the window and asked to look at it. I said 'yes, with pleasure'.

"I opened the window and got the necklace out. I hung onto it and showed it to him.

"He said we were the first place we'd been to and he wanted to have a shop around. You get a feel for if they'll come back but I said to Malcom 'this one isn't coming back'."

Malcom took the business over from his father when he was 16, and said although there have been three or four burglaries over the years, they've never experienced anything like that.

The couple, who have been together for 53 years, opened the shop the following day as usual.

Brave Malcolm and Elise weren't having any of it (Abelsons/MEN MEDIA)

Elise said: "Thank God, we're fine. We were shook up at the time, we've sat down and thought about it and realised how lucky we were.

"We weren't hurt. It could have been a knife. The hammer must have hit the window, there's a great chip in it but thank God it didn't hit us.

"Nothing goes through your mind, it's instinct and you do something so stupid that you never thought you'd do. I always think 'they can take the shop, I don't care'.

"He must have thought we were two old fogies and an easy target. We're strong, we weren't hurt, we're absolutely fine.

"Our children went ballistic with us. Our son sent us a photo of Malcom's body with Tyson Fury's head on. They told us never to do that again.

"The adrenaline just takes over. It was all a blur. When we watched it back we just said 'why did we do that? How stupid' but we're here to tell the tale."

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said they were investigating and that no arrests had been made.

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