A MUGGER who shoved an 85-year-old woman to the ground and stole her handbag is behind bars - after he came face-to-face with a former bouncer.
When paranoid schizophrenic Mark Dutnall, 33, wrestled Jean Potter's handbag from her grasp as she walked in Rainsford Lane, Chelmsford, in broad daylight, little did he know that a former doorman would be driving past ready to catch him.
Paolo Dunnachie, 36, of Litchfield Close, Chelmsford, was returning to the Saxon 4x4 showroom in Westway where he works as a sales specialist when he saw the convicted burglar flee with the pensioner's bag.
Paolo told the Chronicle: "I could see a woman on the road lying on her back. At first it looked like a man was kicking her, then I could see he was trying to take something off her.
"Even though she was on the floor she was still fighting him and wouldn't let go of the bag – she's a brave lady.
"I managed to get close and he started running off up the road. Then I realised what was going on and mounted the pavement, throwing the van into a hedge and he ran into the side of the van.
"He managed to run round the side and across the road, so I chased after him on foot.
"I caught up with him, dragged him to the floor, took the bag off him and took him back to where it happened near Meteor Way. He tried to take a swing at me, but after I put him on the floor he gave up."
Dutnall, of Arnhem Road, Chelmsford, approached Mrs Potter at about 11am on May 7 and told her to "give me your bag", Chelmsford Crown Court heard last week. When she refused he knocked her to the ground and pulled it from her shoulder and ran off down Waterhouse Lane, before Mr Dunnachie caught up with him and he was arrested.
Mrs Potter was left with a cut finger and elbow and a graze to the back of her hand.
She was also wearing a wedding ring that had to be cut off and was very shaken by the ordeal.
Frank O'Toole, defending Dutnall, said: "He wishes to apologise to the victim that he took her handbag."
But the court heard how Dutnall had mental health problems and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, with a string of previous convictions for theft and shoplifting going back to 1994.
Dutnall, who pleaded guilty to robbery, was jailed for 16 months.
Recorder Laird said: "This was a dreadful offence on a vulnerable elderly lady, aggravated by the fact you deliberately targeted an elderly woman who was walking in the street."
