Pensioner in pants battles burglar

13 November 2009

A PLUCKY pensioner flew into action when he ran into the street in his underwear to fight off a violent burglar with an umbrella.

Ken Creffield says he 'felt like D'Artagnan' when he confronted intruder Daniel Jefferies and dodged flying lumps of concrete at his Thornbury Road home in Uphill.

The 75-year-old grandfather-of-five suffered bleeding next to his brain after the burglar attacked him, also hitting him over the head with a walking stick and an umbrella.

But Mr Creffield refused to let the 24-year-old criminal get away and held him off with a golf umbrella in the street at 3.30am in the morning.

Jefferies, of no fixed abode, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Bristol Crown Court last week as a result of the offence in July.

Mr Creffield said: "I woke up to shouting and banging in the street, but I was too sleepy to drag myself out of bed.

"But then I thought I heard a noise inside my house.

"I opened the door and there was a young guy on the landing.

"He pushed me in the throat and as I staggered back he whacked me on the head with a heavy ebony waking stick he had taken from my hall after kicking my front door in.

"I fell backwards but was instantly on my feet thanks to a surge of adrenaline."

Mr Creffield chased Jefferies down the stairs, but the intruder had grabbed a golf umbrella from the hall and hit the pensioner over the head with it.

Not wanting the burglar to get away, the grandfather, dressed in his underpants and a T-shirt, chased him into the street.

The former journalist added: "He tried to hit me a third time but I caught the umbrella as it came down and wrenched it from him.

"I decided to go after him and after 100 yards he reappeared from a side street armed with two lumps of broken concrete.

"He threw the small lump at me and it hit my leg. I was holding the umbrella like D'Artagnan and Jefferies was holding the big concrete block like a club, ready to crash it down on my head or bare feet."

Mr Creffield ran home and called the police, who soon arrived, along with an ambulance that took the pensioner to hospital.

A day later he was diagnosed with bleeding next to the brain, known as a subdural haematoma.

Mr Creffield said: "This is a killer condition and one in five people suffering with it dies.

"I am on the mend now, but my memory and energy levels are affected.

"I have no vengeful feelings towards Jefferies but I am glad he is in jail.

"He needs to be locked away until he ceases to be a danger to the public."

Jefferies, who was 23 years old at the time of the offence, previously pleaded guilty to the burglary.