Blowing whistle on local burglar

MARCH 1983 saw an elderly lady literally blowing the whistle on a midnight prowler.

The pensioner stayed ice-cool as she heard a man break into the building and, as he pounded on her door shouting that he was from the police, she raced to her bedroom window and blasted out the alarm on a whistle she kept by her bedside.

A nearby police patrol heard the whistle and, as they dashed to the scene, they heard the crashing of glass as the frightened burglar jumped through a window to escape along the High Street.

The woman was alone in her flat above a doctor's surgery in High Street and was waiting for her sister to return when she heard a knock on the door.

She went down to the door and asked who was outside. The man said: "It's me," but the pensioner refused to open the door which was heavily barred.

The man was then alleged to say: "Open up. It's the police - there's a bomb scare."

However, she still refused to open the door and after trying to force his way in the man panicked and ran off.

The joint action of the woman's alarm and the swiftness of police led to the capture of the man. He was later charged with burglary at a special court in Lurgan courthouse.