Police appeal after knife point robbery in County Durham (From The Northern Echo)

Police appeal after knife point robbery in County Durham

5:45pm Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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POLICE are appealing for information after a pensioner was robbed at knife point by a man who forced his way into her North-East home.

At around noon yesterday, the 67-year-old, who lives alone in Crook, County Durham, handed over £40 to the intruder.

Detective constable Glen Ovington described it as a horrific crime on a vulnerable victim and appealed for help in tracking down the culprit. "The woman's attention was drawn to a man who walked past her window and didn't come back," he said.

"The street is a cul-de-sac so there was nowhere for him to go.

"Initially she thought it might have been someone looking at the gas meter so she went to investigate.

"When she opened the door, however, she was met by a man wielding a large kitchen knife.

"This man has then stepped in the house and demanded money from her.

"The woman was obviously very frightened, seeing a man in a scarf and hood with a knife, and she gave him whatever she had."

DC Ovington said the offender then fled from the house on Snowball Close, onto Peases Way, before heading in the direction of Beechburn Industrial Estate, Crook.

He is described as in his teens, 6ft tall and was wearing a scarf, a dark coloured hooded top, and dark coloured trousers.

It is thought he might have had a rucksack with him.

Anyone with information is asked to call DC Ovington at Crook CID on 0345-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.