A FEISTY Suffolk grandmother told today how she floored the robber who tried to snatch her sister's handbag only to be threatened by a thug wielding a baseball-bat.

By Lisa Baxter

A FEISTY Suffolk grandmother told today how she floored the robber who tried to snatch her sister's handbag only to be threatened by a thug wielding a baseball-bat.

Pensioner Greta Cook is still in shock at the drama which disrupted her fortnightly shopping trip with her 60-year-old sibling in the car park at Asda in Ipswich.

The 70-year-old told how a woman robber came up behind her and her sister from a transit van parked illegally in the store's car park.

"We were walking on the pedestrian crossing and suddenly there was a thud on my sister's back and she said 'I want that bag'," said Mrs Cook.

"She shot between us and pushed my sister aside."

Mrs Cook told how the robber tried to grapple her sister's bag from her but the strap was wound tightly around her wrist.

"With that, we gave her a mighty lump and a kick in the leg and we pushed her over and she lost her balance," she said, telling how the elderly sisters fought their attacker off.

"Then we had her right where we wanted her. I shouted for help."

A passer-by then helped to hold the woman down while another shopper called the police.

As the robber lay on the floor, she tried to get to the contents of the handbag.

"She had my sister's bag between her legs and was grappling the zip as we held her down."

But before the police arrived, a man brandishing a baseball bat jumped from the transit van.

"The chap came up behind with a big baseball bat thing," she said.

"He was abusing us using foul language and threatened to hit us. I think he would've hit us. He looked vicious and was getting nearer and nearer. We released the girl and she went off with the boy.

"I was too exhausted to know where she went. I was shaking," she added.

"It was all so quick. One minute we were walking along and the next minute we had her on her back. It was so scary.

"I'm not a very fit person. I've had a hip operation and two knee operations but I had to hold on as hard as I possibly could. I've never held on so hard."

Mrs Cook, the eldest of four siblings, said she has always been close to her sister Patricia, the youngest of the family.

"We are very, very close and she lives quite near to me," said the protective elder sister.

"We speak two or three times a day. We've always been like that."

Mrs Cook said she did not know where the pair's strength to fight off the robber came from.

"I don't know how we came to do it," she said. "We were caught on the spot. We both said afterwards how the hell did we do it. I feel like a rag now and so does she. We've got lumps in our throats and are shaky."

The incident happened at around 1.15pm on Wednesday, December 5. Witnesses should contact Det Con Stephen Williamson on 01473 383133.