Brave 81-year-old tells how she fought off 'nuisance' robber

AN 81-year-old programme seller who bravely fought off a violent thief told today how she felt sorry for her attacker.

Vera Alexander was working at the Queen's Hall in Clerk Street when the man tried to steal her takings at 11am on Tuesday.

Despite being assaulted during the robbery, the Inverleith pensioner said she pitied him.

She said: "Once it was all over I thought about it. If anything I was really sorry for him that any man could live that way.

"So many of us have so much and some people are living like that."

The man shoved his elderly victim and grabbed around £100.

But Mrs Alexander, who has worked at the Queens Hall for 29 years, would not let him make off with the money.

"It was nothing very much really," she said. "A man just pushed me – luckily there was a wall behind me so I could right myself – and he ran off with the money.

"I was selling programmes and he simply pushed me and stuffed the £5 notes down his shirt. I grabbed him and just started sticking my hand down his shirt to get them back.

"I was really angry. I thought, 'You're making a blinking fool out of me'.

"It wasn't my money; it belonged to the Queens Hall. That made me more determined to get it back. I was responsible for it."

She described the ordeal as a "nuisance" because the thief got in the way of latecomers to the Irvine Arditti and Rudiger Lotter violin show which was about to start.

She said she recognised the man from a previous attempt to steal money from the hall. She added: "It was the same time last year he came and he wanted money then as well.

"If he comes back again I'll remember him. Next time I'll keep well back – maybe."

Queens Hall bosses praised Mrs Alexander.

Adrian Harris, chief executive, said: "Vera is well known and loved in Edinburgh's theatres and we have no qualms employing someone of her age.

"The concert was part of the Edinburgh International Festival, and we think the robber was waiting outside for a quiet moment to pounce.

"But Vera has a great love for the theatre and stuck up for herself to the best of her abilities, as well as give a good description to police, which we really do thank her for."

The man made off down Clerk Street towards Montague Street, but Mrs Alexander had loosened his shirt as the pair grappled and most of the money fell into the street as he fled.

The man is described as being white, 25 to 30 years old, slim and around 5ft 8ins tall. He had short, scruffy blond hair, was wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt with dark trousers, and was carrying a red plastic bag.

A police spokeswoman said: "This woman has acted very bravely in trying to stop the thief getting away with any money.

"We would appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time, and who saw what happened, to contact police."