A 90-YEAR-OLD man who foiled a violent robbery at his home in Bushey has criticised the police for their ten day delaying in following up the incident, in which he was assaulted and sustained serious injuries.

Mr John Howard was rushed to Watford General Hospital on Monday, June 17, with a broken wrist, two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder after he tried to stop intruders stealing £30,000 worth of tools from his garage.

Mr Howard, whose grandson, Mr Martin Farley, uses the garage to carry out mechanical repairs, said he had just finished making lunch for his wife, Alice, at 11.50am when he heard a van, a black Toyota, pull into the garage.

He said: "I heard the van screech in and looked out of the window to see two men loading tools from the garage into the back of it.

"Not thinking, I immediately ran out of the house and over to the vehicle where my first instinct was to try to stop the driver from getting away by removing the keys from the ignition."

In his attempt to do so, Mr Howard was punched in the face by one of the men, while the other two began to throw the items back out of the van in attempt to make a quick getaway.

In self defence, Mr Howard hit out at his attacker, who delivered a severe blow to the pensioner, knocking him to the ground.

Two of the offenders climbed into the back of the van, one of them still keeping hold of Mr Howard's left arm, and shouted at the driver to start the engine.

The senior citizen was then dragged ten to 15 yards down the driveway.

But ten days after the attack, Mr Howard had still not heard from the police, who were alerted immediately after the incident by his grandson.

Following enquiries from The Watford Observer, Hertfordshire Constabulary said on Thursday, June 27, that it had now taken a statement from Mr Howard.

June 27, 2002 17:00