British youths who tried to snatch a grandmother's purse got the fright of their lives when she turned out to be a former cross-country champion and chased after them, according to a newspaper report. Janet Lane, 68, was waiting for a friend on a park bench in Torquay, in the southwestern English county of Devon, when one of three young men grabbed her bag containing her pension payment in cash. As he and his two accomplices ran away, Mrs Lane, who had won the Yorkshire cross-country championship as a schoolgirl in 1953, set off in pursuit, chasing them 100 metres across a park and into the grounds of a hotel. Despite wearing sandals, the 5ft 6in (1.68m) tall grandmother managed to catch up and grabbed one of the youths by the collar. The youth, aged about 15, dropped her bag and begged to be let go. All three escaped empty-handed. Mrs Lane, a retired nurse, said: “Those boys saw a little old lady and thought I was easy pickings, but there was no way I was going to sit there and let them get away with it. I was so angry when they took it. I had been to collect my pension and I had water rates to pay with that money. “My first reaction was, ‘They are not having my bag'. I used to be a very good runner when I was younger so I just got up and ran after them.” Mrs Lane, a divorced grandmother of two, had her bag stolen as she sat on a bench near the Riviera International Centre in Torquay, Devon. She said: “I had my shopping bag with me by my side and I turned around, looking for my friend, Sue, who would be coming around the corner. The boys came up to me and asked for a cigarette but I said no. They must have been checking if I had anything worth stealing. They must have come back and I felt a whooshing movement and I saw a boy in a grey hooded top take my bag.” A spokesman at the Inglewood Hotel, in Torquay, where Mrs Lane chased them to ground, said: “There was quite a commotion outside as the lady ran by chasing the boys. Her shouting alerted two waiters who were putting up decorations and they tried to stop them as well.” However, Devon and Cornwall Police warned members of the public against following Mrs Lane's example. A spokesman said: “Generally, for safety reasons, we do not actively encourage this kind of behavior, as you never know what could happen. But we understand this woman is a former cross-country runner and did not feel able to let it go.” The police are continuing their inquiries.
