Supergran? No, I'm just a mad old woman with a handbag, says Ann, who 失敗させる／負かすd an 武装した ギャング（団）

By Natasha Courtenay-Smith for MailOnline
Updated: 14:09 BST, 15 December 2011

When Ann Timson was a ?little girl, her mother often used to tell her not to get too 伴う／関わるd when there was trouble about. As Ann points out with a shy smile: ‘I was a feisty little beggar.

‘Whenever I （機の）カム home and told my mum about my day, or について言及するd something I’d said to someone, she’d say: “Oh Ann, you get too 伴う／関わるd”.’

So what, then, would her mother, who died several years ago, have made of the events of the past week?’

‘She’d be looking 負かす／撃墜する and 説: “That’s my girl!” She’d ?probably be laughing her を回避する,’ says Ann. ‘But she’d definitely say that this time I’d gone too far.’

Ann Timson, of course, is the 71-year-old grandmother who this week became a 国家の ?ヘロイン after attacking a ギャング（団） of jewel-thieves with her handbag.

The ギャング（団） had pulled up on motorbikes and were 粉砕するing their way into a jeweller’s in Northampton town centre with sledgehammers when Ann ran across the road and started bashing them.

驚くべき／特命の／臨時の （映画の）フィート数 of her sprinting across a road in her 有望な red coat before 開始する，打ち上げるing her attack has been 審査するd around the world and has had hundreds of thousands of 攻撃する，衝突するs on YouTube.

As a result of her 活動／戦闘s, one man was apprehended on the scene, and four others have appeared at Northampton 治安判事s’ 法廷，裁判所 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d with 強盗 and 窃盗 of a 乗り物.

Ann is 存在 称讃するd as a heroic ?人物／姿／数字 willing to put the wellbeing of her community before her own safety.

Today, speaking 排他的に to the Daily Mail, Ann, who was ?すぐに dubbed Supergran on several newspaper 前線 pages, leaps nimbly to her feet in her kitchen to re-制定する the moment she 開始する，打ち上げるd into 活動／戦闘.

The handbag in question is ?surprisingly lightweight, made of a flimsy canvas, and Ann explains how it can be 倍のd into itself until it is the size of a small purse.
?
On Monday, it 含む／封じ込めるd only Ann’s purse and a newspaper. She 論証するs how she wrapped its 扱うs tightly around her wrist before clasping its neck with both 手渡すs as she 開始する，打ち上げるd into her 強襲，強姦.

‘I was just standing in the street talking to a lady when I heard this revving sound and saw what I thought was a group of boys attacking another lad,’ says Ann, swinging the 捕らえる、獲得する around the kitchen with some elan. ‘So I 基本的に ran up and clobbered them. All I could think was what if it was my son 存在 attacked.

‘People keep 説 I sprinted up to the robbers, but I can’t sprint, my 膝s are too wobbly. I’d say it was more of an amble ― an amble at a reasonable 速度(を上げる）.

‘The only 推論する／理由 I could do it at all was because that morning I’d put support ba ndages on both my 脚s in 準備 for my afternoon ?dancing class.

‘I realised as I got の近くに that they were robbing the jeweller’s, but I was in 十分な flight ― I couldn’t have stopped even if I’d 手配中の，お尋ね者 to.

I was shouting: “Stop it, stop it”, and then, when one of them ?宙返り／暴落するd over, I shouted to all the people standing there: “Sit on him, sit on him!” ‘I 行方不明になるd as many as I 攻撃する，衝突する, but all I could think was “How dare they do such a thing .?.?. and in 幅の広い daylight, too!” The audacity of those people ― it’s beyond belief.

‘When someone took the helmet off the lad we’d 抑制するd, I couldn’t believe how young he was ― and he looked terrified. He was just a boy. I thought of my own son at that age, and it made me realise how much things have changed in this country.

‘A few １０年間s ago, young men 尊敬（する）・点d their 年上のs. Yet one of these lads had even raised his ?大打撃を与える at me. If he hadn’t realised he was about to whack an old woman, I hate to think what he could have done to me.

‘It all happened so quickly, I hadn’t even noticed they’d been 武装した.’
But even in the 即座の ?影響 of that extr aordinary 遭遇（する）, Ann’s inherent bolshiness was never far away.

‘A lady （機の）カム out of the shop and said to me: “Are you all 権利, dear?” I didn’t really like that ― I thought it was a bit patronising. I know I am a pensioner, but there’s no need for a stranger to call me “dear”.

‘There was a mother with a baby in a pram who’d 辛うじて 行方不明になるd 存在 mown 負かす／撃墜する by the mopeds. She looked as though she was going to faint, and I thought she’d taken the whole thing more 不正に than I had. Although my 脚s were trembling, I played peek-a-boo with her baby while she 回復するd.

‘I was certainly a bit puffed, and now, even after four hot baths, my muscles are sore and I feel ?粉々にするd because of the 抱擁する ?physical 成果／努力.’

Still, Ann ― who has a four-year-old grand-daughter, Charlie ― is remarkably fit for her age. She ?苦しむs from rheumatoid arthritis, which at times can leave her ?needing the help of a 車椅子, and 収容する／認めるs that いつかs she needs her ?shopping trolley for balance, but she played ホッケー in a mixed team until she was 51, and to this day, still dances three times a week.

She also takes pride in her ?外見 and has a wardrobe 十分な of glamorous outfits for her dancing classes. Then there is her unmissable 有望な red hair, which she has been dyeing for the past 15 years.

It’s （疑いを）晴らす the notion of 存在 a ヘロイン does not sit comfortably with Ann. But this is not the first time this softly spoken woman has taken 事柄s into her own 手渡すs when it comes to the wellbeing of her ?community.

From 供給するing foster care to 地元の children, to baking 30 0 mince pieces and 40 Christmas cakes every year for friends, family and 隣人s who are on their own, Ann has 終始一貫して done good, but has never looked for a 手早く書き留める of 賞賛する.

Perhaps most 意味ありげに, she has been at the heart of a movement to turn around the fortunes of her 広い地所, Spring Boroughs, in Northampton.

As recently as a ?１０年間 ago, the 広い地所 played host each night to as many as 250 ?売春婦s, their pimps and 麻薬-売買業者s, leaving Ann so terrified she would sit in her two-bedroom flat every night with the lights off, in the hope that no one would realise she was at home.

‘One night, the 麻薬-売買業者s were 権利 outside my flat and I was inside in the 不明瞭 and they were 説: “There’s an old biddy in there”,’ says Ann.

‘One of them （機の）カム up to the ?window and started licking it ?menacingly. I was terrified. All I could think was: “Please, leave me alone.” ’

Today, though, Spring Boroughs is 事実上 罪，犯罪-解放する／自由な, and 誇るs neat gardens and 隣人s who know each other.

Ann i s at 広大な／多数の／重要な 苦痛s to point out that this turnaround is not her work alone, yet it’s （疑いを）晴らす that ?without her 決意 to have her home 支援する as it was, Spring ?Boroughs might not be so tranquil.

Born and bred in Northampton, twice-離婚d Ann has spent the past 30 years in Spring Boroughs, where she brought up her only son, Andre, who is now 47 and lives in America.

と一緒に raising her child and becoming a foster mother to a number of 十代の少年少女s, many of whom she is still in 接触する with, Ann worked first as a 行う clerk and then as a market 仲買人.

Then, says Ann, the area was a good place to live. ‘There was the 時折の drunk on a Saturday night, but other than that, it was 安全な,’ she 解任するs. ‘People looked out for one other.

‘You could leave your door open and feel 安全な, and there was a 広大な／多数の／重要な sense of community. But all that has eroded. What happened ?outside the jeweller’s is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s happened to this town. Here we have young men so 決定するd that they will commit a 罪，犯罪 like that in 幅の広い daylight, thinking no one will do anything to stop them.’

It was in 1982 that Ann decided to become a warden on her 広い地所, a 職業 that 伴う／関わるd visiting tenants and checking on their wellbeing. It was a 職業 she would do until she retired in 1999.

She also sat on the 居住（者）s’ 協会. ‘I even did things like helping tenants put in their eardrops and eyedrops. You wouldn’t be 許すd to do that now, but things were different then. I felt like a member of everyone’s family,’ she says.

Around the same ti me, Ann began to notice 罪，犯罪 levels rising on the 広い地所. Her flat’s 場所 on the ground 床に打ち倒す, next to an alley at the point where two walkways 会合，会う, gave her a unique viewpoint on what can only be 述べるd as the ?戦争 outside.

‘Most of the 売春婦s were on 麻薬s, and there was a light ?outside my flat which was used to illuminate their 取引，協定s,’ says Ann.

Every morning, I’d have to climb over comatose 売春婦s lying in the stairwell. One time I saw what I thought was a shoe lying の中で the 貯蔵所 捕らえる、獲得するs. Then I realised it had a 脚 大（公）使館員d and was one of the women. I’d always say to them, politely “Excuse me ladies”, but often they’d just 断言する 支援する.

‘One day, I got up and left my 前線 door ajar with the chain on to let in some 空気／公表する, and next thing I knew a woman’s 手渡す was ?frantically trying to get the door open, trying to break in to steal whatever she could.

'I was terrified and slammed the door on her 手渡す. On another occasion, I looked out the window 早期に one morning to see one man throttling another, strangling him.

‘The man 存在 attacked was shouting: “Help help help!”, and managed to get away. I walked out of my flat in my dressing gown and beckoned him in.

‘He was covered in 血 and very shaken. I phoned a paramedic for him. The man who’d been ?strangling him was one of the main pimps who operated around here.’

By the late Nineties, the 状況／情勢 had got so bad that Ann was able to sleep for only two-hour stretches at night because of the constant noise and fights outside.

‘I was so 脅すd that I invented a husband called Jack,’ she says. ‘When I left the flat I’d shout: “Bye Jack, see you later”; and when I （機の）カム home I’d shout: “Hello Jack, I’m 支援する”, so they would think there was a man in the flat.

‘One night, another 居住（者） （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and said she’d film what was happening outside. We didn’t get to bed until 5am, filming the different fights or 麻薬 取引，協定s.

‘It felt like the place had gone to the dogs. It upset me and everyone else terribly, but we all felt ?権力のない. I suppose a part of me considered moving. But most of the time I felt I would not be 押し進めるd out of my home by these people.’

So what does she think has gone wrong with society? ‘What’s changed enormously is 尊敬（する）・点, discipline and 動機づけ. When I was young, we were taught you don’t get something for nothing. Now, people think they have a 権利 to whatever they want without putting in any 成果／努力.

‘I don’t think any 治める／統治する ment does enough to 抑制（する） anti-social behaviour, no 事柄 which party is in 力／強力にする. The 欠如（する） of discipline in schools and all the namby-pambying around pupils and their 権利s worries me.

‘When I was a girl, we got the 支配者 and boys got the 茎. I’m not ?説 that would work now, but such strictness didn’t do us any 害（を与える）.

‘Then there is the binge-drinking and 麻薬-taking culture. Growing up, we just didn’t drink, and now young people just want to get out of their 長，率いるs.’

And what of the problems on her own 広い地所? ‘I think 移民／移住 was a factor in this area going downhill, as was 売春 and 罪，犯罪 which seem to have migrated here from London and other big cities,’ she says.

‘移民／移住 is too high, and as someone born and bred here, I’ve always felt it is very wrong for people to come to our country, 辞退する to work and （人命などを）奪う，主張する 利益s.

‘But that said, while the 広い地所 is now multicultural it is also ?harmonious and 極端に 平和的な. ?Factors that have helped there have been the 開始 of a church, and a 青年 centre. They help ?統合，差別撤廃 and give people more meaning to their lives .’

Such changes were the result of a 政府 基金ing 率先 ten years ago.

As 副／悪徳行為-議長，司会を務める of the 居住（者）s’ 協会, Ann was instrumental in deciding what changes should be made, 含むing 盗品故買者ing to 封鎖する off the 過密な住居 of pathways, 改良s to lighting and cutting 負かす／撃墜する bushes so the area no longer 供給するd convenient hiding places for 麻薬 売買業者s or pimps.

Play areas were 建設するd, the community cafe was renovated and money was spent on green spaces. Within three years, real 改良s could be seen. Ann 解任するs: ‘It had worked. It was wonderful ― we had our homes 支援する.’

To this day, Ann remains 長官 of the 居住（者）s’ 協会 and …に出席するs 会議 会合s every six weeks. Yet she shies away from （人命などを）奪う，主張するing any credit for the 役割 she has played. ‘I don’t want thanks and I’ve never 手配中の，お尋ね者 承認,’ she 主張するs.

‘Someone once said that they knew I’d done a lot over the years and asked my 指名する. I told them it was “Anon” ― short for “匿名の／不明の”.’

After last Monday, 承認 is something Ann will have to get used to.

‘After the 強盗, I waited for my 脚s to stop wobbling, then I went to my dance class because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do something normal,’ says Ann.

‘All the while I was thinking about my son’s reaction. I hoped he wouldn’t find out ― I thought he’d be furious that I’d put myself in danger.

‘Later, I got a call to say there was （映画の）フィート数 of the 出来事/事件. I thought it must be CCTV or ?camera-phone （映画の）フィート数 ― at the time, I was appalled how many people pul led out their phones to take photos instead of helping out.

‘By the evening, the （映画の）フィート数 was 存在 watched 全国的な, and the next morning, there were lots of reporters outside my 前線 door. I could hardly believe it. I kept thinking: “Why would anyone be 利益／興味d in me?”

‘People say I’m a hero, but I don’t see it like that. For a start, I could have been 不正に 傷つける. Although I would do it again, I don’t think 一般に the public should take on robbers ― it’s dangerous.

‘I’m not 利益／興味d in a reward ― it’s enough for me just to think of those robbers and the stick they’ll be getting that their ?強盗 was 失敗させる／負かすd by a mad old woman with a handbag.’

Mad, Ann certainly is not. ?奮起させるing and selfless, definitely. And one can’t help but feel 感謝する that 運命／宿命 has 介入するd to give the courage of this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and humble woman the prominence it deserves.