James BryceEXCLUSIVE By Wendy Williams
A PAIR of plucky have-a-go heroines have led a fightback against a coastal summer crimewave.
The two mature ladies – one 59, the other 61 – successfully managed to thwart thieves, who tried to steal handbags from their cars.
In both incidents, the expatriate Britons chased after the robbers – one in towering wedges – and managed to get their bags back.
The first incident happened as Liz McGloughlin, 59, was targeted by a Spanish youth, who snatched her bag in the Mercadona car park in Calahonda.
Using a classic diversion tactic, the smartly-dressed man crouched by the passenger door and threw coins under the car to make her think she had dropped them.
“It is a clever scam,” she told the Olive Press.
“If I had done what he had expected and picked the money up he would have grabbed my bag without me noticing… but something wasn’t right and I turned to look and could see a hand through the door.”
Not to be outdone the fiery Scot took chase in her wedges, screaming expletives.
“It was broad daylight and with plenty of onlookers he decided to throw the bag back.
“It is just as well as he was much younger than me so I would never have caught him,” she added.
Just days later, a similar scam was attempted on British expat Jackie Brown, 61, at a busy petrol station in nearby Elviria.
It happened after taking her car for a car wash when a smartly-dressed German asked her if she would help him with his tyre pressure.
“I was uncomfortable with this but for the sake of a minute I was prepared to help,” she explained.
But when he asked her to assist with the other tyres she smelt a rat and decided to lock her car.
It was then that she came face to face with another, younger man with her wallet literally in his hand.
“I ran towards him and he dropped the wallet saying he was sorry.
Still furious, I chased him until the man I had been helping drove up and picked him up and sped off.
“It was only then that I connected the two,” she added.
Brown, a retired recruitment consultant from Farnborough, is now urging people to step up their awareness of such tricksters.
“Incredibly the garage didn’t have CCTV covering the area which is ridiculous.
“So it is now up to everyone else and the media to try and expose their tactics in the hope we can prevent their success.”
very brave