A Glasgow granny helped her nephew to pin down a hammer-wielding thief who stormed their newsagent shop.
Roseann Gibson, was working at Browns in the city with nephew Christopher Brown on December 27, 2021, when a masked man entered.
Christopher, 26, tackled George Kinnear to the ground as he demanded staff hand over cash. CCTV caught the moment that Christopher jumped over the counter, with footage showing just moments later 63-year-old Roseann jumping in to help her nephew pin the intruder to the ground, reports the Daily Record.
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Another customer in the shop moved George's weapon of choice, a claw hammer, out of reach as Roseann managed to call police from where she sat on the thief. Despite only being 4ft 11in, Roseann and her nephew managed to keep George on the ground until police arrived.
George was found by police to have had a knife in his pocket and the armed forces veteran appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court where he admitted attempted armed robbery, threatening violence and brandishing a hammer at Christopher.
He also admitted being in possession of a knife and is due to be sentenced later this month.
Roseann said: “When I watched the CCTV back, I was shocked. I just can’t believe I did it. A lot of things have changed since it happened.
“Before, I would never have thought twice about standing outside the shop early in the morning while we wait to open up which I’ve done for 42 years. But now I wait in my car across the road.
“I’m annoyed that I feel that way but I’m scared and angry. You always get dafties but this is the first time something as bad as this has happened. There is a panic button right behind where Christopher was standing but his instincts took over.
“He said he just saw the hammer and thought about me while I was thinking about him.”
Recalling the fateful morning, which took place just days after Christmas, Roseann said: “Christopher and myself opened up the shop that morning and it was about 7.50am. He had set up the papers and a lady came in.
“She had a bag full of presents for my grandson. I saw her and came from behind the counter to speak to her because I’d been tidying the magazines.
“I was aware of somebody else coming in but thought it was just a normal customer. But the next minute, I saw the newspapers getting thrown over. That’s when I looked and saw the guy had a hammer.
“By that time, Christopher had thrown the papers over and diverted him. He was coming with the hammer. I managed to get the guy down using the side of my body but by that time, Christopher had flown over the counter to throw a plastic perspex screen.
“He got him down and we sat on him. I must admit, although I say we sat on him, it was pretty hard because he was trying to get up while we were trying to keep him down.
“I got the balaclava off of him because I wanted to see his face to see if I knew him. I did recognise him - not as a good customer but someone who had been in the shop before.
“We just held him down. He obviously let go of the hammer and Mrs Callaghan lifted it which you can see in the video. She was obviously giving him mouth.
“I never normally had my phone on me in the shop but I did that morning because I had been pricing something. Lucky enough, I managed to hold him down with me on top of Christopher and phoned the police.
“They were really quick in coming. The police came back in and told us he had a knife when they searched him. I still can’t believe that this happened.”
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