Elderly crime-fighting trio tackle prolific burglar stealing jewellery from dead woman
An elderly crime-fighting trio tackled a wanted prolific burglar to the ground when they caught him trying to steal jewellery from inside the home of a dead woman.
The men, dubbed the "three Musketeers", have a combined age of 229 and managed to seize Stephen Ward, a burglar who police have been unable to catch for 18 months.
Peter Mueller, 70, from Germany, spotted Ward standing in the corridor with a bag of jewellery when he went to visit the house of his dead mother-in-law in Derby, UK, The Mirror reported.
Mr Mueller, Adly Gorrafa, 81, and Sheila Gorrafa, 78, tackled the burglar to the ground and held his face on the floor while neighbours called Derbyshire Police.
The heroic pensioners were captured on a police officer's body cam holding down a grunting Ward as authorities slap handcuffs on his wrist.
Mr Mueller said he was "full of adrenaline" when he and his relatives took the burglar to the ground.
“I took one leg of his so he fell down, and all three of us got on his body and held him," he said.
"We cried to the neighbours to call the police."
“I’m 70 years old and the other two people were 78 and 81. With our weight, he had no chance to escape.”
Derbyshire Police Chief Constable Mick Creedon gave the "three Musketeers" bravery awards for their incredible citizens' arrest.
“We give these commendations out but we don’t give them out lightly."
Chief Creedon said "this was a remarkable event and came at some risk".
"Without their help we wouldn’t have caught this man.”
Ward was later jailed for 27 months for a string of burglaries across Derbyshire.
