LONDON (AP) 鈥 An 84-year-old British man armed only with a pair of trousers beat back a mugger half his age who tried to rob him at a laundry in northern England.
Ron Croker was drying his clothes last week when the masked thug accosted him at the unstaffed Coin-Op Launderette in Maltby in South Yorkshire.
In the altercation caught on a surveillance camera, it appeared the two were struggling over the pair of jeans Croker was folding when the man attacked him.
But the would-be robber wanted his wallet and Croker wasn鈥檛 giving it up without a fight.
Croker pushed the man out the door, and told him if he came back, 鈥淚鈥檓 gonna ... kill you,鈥 adding an expletive for good measure.
As Croker returned to his chore at the dryer, the man took another run at him. Croker pushed back and swung the pants so the legs appeared to swat the thief, who finally retreated.
鈥淚鈥檝e had fights and scuffled when I was younger, but when he was coming at me I thought I couldn鈥檛 back down,鈥 the former construction foreman told The Times of London. 鈥淭here was no one there to help me. It was either me or him and I won.鈥
South Yorkshire Police said they caught a 42-year-old man and charged him with attempted robbery for the Jan. 7 incident. He鈥檚 being held in custody.
