Brave Nellie, 91, sees off conmen

Nellie Duxbury, 91, saw off the two men who were forced to flee empty handed.

Police today praised the brave battler and appealed for information to catch the would-be thieves.

Nellie, a former weaver at various East Lancashire mills, was approached by the men on Tuesday afternoon at her home in the Audley area of Blackburn.

Police said they barged into her house pretending they were from a water company and had come to warn her of blue dye in her water.

Once inside they asked Nellie where the stopcock was, immediately sparking her concerns.

She said: "They told me that the blue dye would be harmful if I drank it and it was dangerous.

"I've lived here for 28 years and there's never been anything wrong with the water. When he asked me where the stopcock was I said: 'You should know.' I thought then that I would watch him.

And when she was asked to keep her hand on the tap while the men tried to get into her front room, the frail pensioner sprang into action.

She armed herself with a rolling pin from her kitchen and tackled them head on.

She said: "I told them to clear off, otherwise I would clock them with it. I was panicking but I would definitely have hit them with something. They wouldn't get away with it with me."

Detective Inspector Neil Hunter praised her heroics but sounded a warning to other "have-a-go-heroes."

He said: "There is no doubt that Nellie's brave actions meant these men fled empty handed.

"But there are dangers with resisting people and the consequences are sometimes not worth thinking about."

DI Hunter added that the men were seen trying several other properties in the area but no other incidents had been reported.

Nellie, whose late husband Ephraim was a sergeant in the Second World War, stationed in France, said an elderly neighbour was robbed of £100 some months ago. And she was determined it would not happen to her. She said: "Ephraim would have been proud of me. I would do it again if anybody else tried it."