BRAVE pensioner Joyce Lane today said: “I've never been so frightened,” after she confronted a burglar with a sandwich knife.

BRAVE pensioner Joyce Lane today said: “I've never been so frightened,” after she confronted a burglar with a sandwich knife.

The 75-year-old Ipswich woman was having supper in her London Road home on Thursday evening when she was confronted by a man in her living room.

She said: “I turned around and he was there. I've never been so frightened in all my life. I just picked up the knife on the table and told him to get out.

“The only thing he said was that he had been chasing some boys who had got into my garden - but I don't believe there were any boys at all.

“He was quite quietly spoken and he stank of tobacco smoke and I told him I didn't want him in my house.

“I'd been having a sandwich in my living room because I'm having a new kitchen fitted at the moment and the sandwich knife was beside me.

“I can't move very fast because I've got arthritis and I can only see out of one eye. I don't know why I picked up the knife. What was I thinking of?”

Mrs Lane got out of her chair leaning on her stick and waved the knife at the man telling him to get out of the house.

She said: “I said I was going to call the police and he left. After he had gone out of the door I put the chain on but he came back and tapped on the window.

“I called the police but he had gone by the time they got here. They asked me to check if anything had been taken and I realised my purse had gone. That had £200 in it - including £30 that had been sent to me for Christmas by my son in Singapore.

“When I told the police about the knife I realised it could have been very nasty, but they said so long as I had not had the knife there specifically to attack a burglar I had done nothing wrong.”

DC Jim Booth is the investigating officer in the case, first reported in the Evening Star on Saturday .

He said: “She was extremely brave in confronting the offender. While police would never encourage members of the public to put themselves at risk by confronting an offender, we admire her courage.”

Mrs Lane told police the burglar was aged between 40 and 45, white, of slight build with a thin face and wearing dark clothing. He had dark brown hair which could be curly, or just ruffled. He was between 5ft 5in and 5ft 8in.

Anyone with any information about the burglary is asked to contact DC Booth on 01473 613500.

N Is it right to confront criminals, or should people not put themselves at risk? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk