Pensioner, 85, who fought off mugger: 'if I was 20 years younger he'd have been on the deck'

Retired removal man and former amateur boxer Ernie Hanratty was thrown to the ground by his hooded attacker as he returned from his morning shopping trip.

Daniel Rose sobbed as he was jailed

Daniel Rose, 21, demanded money from the 85-year-old then grabbed at his carrier bag when Ernie refused to hand it over – and escaped with just two newspapers.

Rose, from Eastfields, Stanley, County Durham, sobbed throughout a 30-minute hearing at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday as he was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Great-grandad Ernie said: "He was a pale pasty lad. There was no way the bugger was getting away with any money, but he cost me two copies of The Sun."

Rose grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and said: "Give me 20 quid and I'll go."

Ernie replied: "You'll bloody go, but you'll not be getting any £20."

He clamped Rose around the wrist with a vice-like grip honed over 20 years as a removal man, and the mugger swiped his blue plastic bag and ran off.

Ernie, a handy left back who was offered trials at Newcastle United during the club's glory days of Wor Jackie Milburn, was also a keen amateur boxer.

He said: "I grew up knowing how to look after myself and nobody pushed me around. I boxed at Stanley Boys Club and I wasn't a bad fighter but football was my game so I only had three fights.

"When the lad grabbed me I got hold of his wrist and squeezed. I've got a strong grip and he knew he wouldn't be getting any money from me.

"I used to be on the removals wagon and we'd be carrying heavy stuff, you have to have a good grip when you're carrying a grand piano around.

"What I said in my statement to the court was true, if I'd been a few years younger he'd have been on the deck in a second.

"He was a pale, pasty lad and he looked older than 21 but I suppose that must be the drugs. When I let go of his wrist he couldn't get away fast enough.

"He deserved to go to jail, I hope it teaches him a lesson but in my day you had more respect than to act like that. There'd be a bobby out who'd give you a clip around the ear.

"It happened to me many a time when I was kicking a football where I shouldn't have, but it taught you right from wrong.

"I was a bit annoyed the lad got away with my papers actually."

Ernie, a dad of two whose wife Mary died in 2003, played football as an amateur for South Moor Albion in the 1950s.

His big chance came in the 50s when Newcastle manager Stan Seymour asked him to join the club.

Ernie said: "I knew I'd never get in that great team with the likes of Jackie Milburn so I politely said 'no' - they only earned £6.10-a-week in those days anyway so it wasn't a great loss."

Forklift truck driver Rose had been on a night-long drink and drugs bender and had no memory of the attack – or a burglary he carried out nearby less than an hour earlier.

He was confronted in the house by the occupant and her dog-walker, and ran off with a mobile phone and £7, vowing to smash the windows if they called the police.

Richard Herrmann, mitigating, said: "He cannot believe he carried out either of these offences. He has no memory of them. He is deeply sorry."

Judge Peter Armstrong told Rose - who has just one burglary conviction on his record: "You demanded money from him, and when he refused, you grabbed his left wrist.

"There was a scuffle and he fell to the ground and hurt his back. You stole his plastic bag containing some newspapers.

"When you were interviewed you could not remember the offences because you had had so much to drink and were under the influence of drugs, but unfortunately that's an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one."