On the one hand, we have a 61-year-old woman, armed with a broom, and on the other, a 51-year-old thief armed with a knife. The latter lost the encounter.

The incident occurred in Atarfe around mid month when a man burst into a lottery office where the woman worked, demanding money with a knife. Instead of caving in, she set about trying to cave his head in with a handy broom.

However, at one point he managed to grab hold of her and throw her to the floor, with the result that she crashed against a desk and cut her arm. All the time that the struggle took place the woman was shouting for help, and soon it came.

Upon seeing reinforcements coming to her aid he ran out of the shop, only to be pursed by many of the local business owners and employees – in fact, they virtually chased him to his house. Several times on the way, he stopped and confronted them with the knife, before running off again, with the crowd still on his heels.

Although the Policía Local were also involved, it was the Guardia Civil who finally arrested him on his doorstep.

The thief is an ‘old hand’ and well known to the police  in Atarfe. In fact, he hasn’t long been released from prison.

The moral of the story is, if you are feeling lucky, then buy a lottery ticket at nearest office, but you ought to be feeling very lucky indeed if you think that you can get away without paying for it.

(News: Atarfe, Granada, Andalucia)