NEWS: Great Granny

UPDATE: October 2009
This article is notable as the start of a campaign to get an alternative above ground crossing on Calder Road. Because of sustained pressure, and a further litany of crimes, Edinburgh Council is set to install two new pelican crossings.

By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
14 February 2008

A GREAT grandma has told how she fought off a mugger in a city underpass.

Mary Hall, of Saughton Mains Park, was pounced on by a woman 50 years her junior in the subway in Calder Road.

But the great-grandmother, who is 69 and stands about 5ft tall, refused to hand over her handbag to the 5ft 10in attacker.

Mrs Hall was making her way to see her GP for a check-up on a shoulder injury caused in a fall three weeks ago when the mugger struck on Tuesday at 10.30am.

The fall chipped her shoulder and left her in extreme pain, but despite her injury, the plucky pensioner managed to hold on to her handbag.

The mugger reached in, but only escaped with a packet of cigarettes.

Mrs Hall said: "She was a big lassie and she could have flattened me if she was really desperate.

"I have no idea where she came from. I was walking through the underpass, and unusually there was nobody around at that time of day.

"I didn't hear her coming but the next thing I knew I was being tackled from behind and she was trying to wrestle my handbag from my arm.

"I grabbed a hold of it and told her she'd be getting nothing from me.

"I don't carry much money anyway, and there's nothing else of value in there, but I wasn't going to let her get away with it."

It is the second time the pensioner has been attacked in the area, after being tripped and robbed by a man nine years ago.

She added: "I barely recovered from that, and I can't believe it's happened to me again.

"When I got to my doctors I could barely speak. I told the receptionist what happened and the doctor came out to see me right away. He took me into his office and I just sat and cried for ages.

"When I got home, I was still in shock, and my daughter had to come and spend the night with me because I couldn't sleep.

"Every time I shut my eyes I could feel my arm jerking as though the girl was trying to take my bag again. I'm never going near those underpasses again. I don't know how I'll manage because all of the bus stops and shops are at the other side of Calder Road, but at least I've got my family around."

This incident is the second reported mugging on Calder Road this week.

Officers were yet to speak to Mrs Hall when the Evening News visited her yesterday, but the matter has been reported to the police.

Mrs Hall described the woman as being in her early-20s, heavily-built, with mousy-brown curly hair tied back from her head. She was wearing a royal-blue jacket with white cuffs.