A mugger who robbed an 83-year-old grandmother received instant justice when a cage fighter who witnessed the attack tackled him to the ground.
Mixed martial arts expert Macauley Peckitt, 22, pounced on the bag snatcher in Guisborough. North Yorkshire, and held him until police arrived.
Mark Groves, 45, who was jailed for two years for the robbery, was paralysed in a choke hold as the athlete told him: ‘I’ll put you to sleep’ if he moved.
Mr Peckitt, who was praised by a judge as he jailed Groves, went on to win an MMA title just one week later.
Mixed martial arts expert Macauley Peckitt, 22, pounced on the bag snatcher in Guisborough. North Yorkshire, and held him until police arrived
Teesside Crown Court heard the elderly woman was on her way to visit her sister when she felt ‘her bag flying off her arm.’
Prosecutor Rebecca Brown said she gripped metal railings to steady herself and saw the robber disappearing around the corner on February 4.
Mr Peckitt said he was walking with his girlfriend with their dog when they heard the terrified screams of the elderly victim.
He said: ‘We’d only walked about 10 metres when I heard the woman wailing and shouting.
Mr Peckitt, left, said he was walking with his girlfriend when he saw Mark Groves, right, rob the woman and run off with her bag
‘I chased the man, ran up behind him, booted him and he fell to the floor, then I put him in a choke hold.
‘I had no idea if he had a weapon on him so I told him I’d put him to sleep if he went in his pockets.
‘I held on to him for a good five minutes before the police arrived. In the meantime my girlfriend was looking after the lady.
‘It was a good bit of extra training.’
After hearing Groves had been jailed, Macauley said: ‘I hope what happened has taught him a lesson.’
A week later Macauley, who trains at Middlesbrough Ju Jitsu and Vale Tudo Club, became an MMA Total Combat champion.
The elderly woman later said it was a ‘terrible experience.’
She said in statements how she did not trust herself and said it left her feeling ‘useless’.
She was not injured but felt fearful since the robbery, which played on her mind. She said it has had a ‘life-changing’ impact and knocked her confidence.
The court heard she had become nervous about leaving her home, did not like to use public transport and was prescribed medication for anxiety.
Groves, of Skelton, North Yorkshire, was heard saying ‘I’m sorry’ at the scene but then claimed he fell over, somehow became entangled with the woman’s bag, panicked and ran.
He later admitted robbery after Judge Simon Hickey expressed scepticism about his ‘bizarre’ story of an accident.
John Nixon, defending, said: ‘This was not a classic case of targeting. It was a case of opportunity.’
He said Groves, who had been out of trouble for 10 years, was taking a short cut to his friend’s house when he saw the bag and took it.
He added Groves had tackled a serious drug problem, battled an addiction to prescribed opiates and robbed the woman in a ‘very low emotional state’.
Judge Hickey jailed Groves for 27 months and told him: ‘You took her bag in a classic bag snatch.
‘She is a vulnerable victim.’