(posted 7133 days ago)'I nearly caught the OAP killer'
Oct 8 2004South London Press
A PENSIONER has told the Old Bailey how he nearly caught a violent robber who went on to a kill a frail 82-year-old woman and attack 11 more victims.Eric Kjaer, 77, said he bravely grabbed 26 year-old Elroy Simmonds despite being punched in the face and wrestled to the ground.
Simmonds only escaped by wriggling out of his jacket, socks and trainers and fled barefoot, leaving his mountain bike, baseball cap and a mobile phone, it was claimed.
But eight months later he renewed his violent attacks on the elderly - this time preying on vulnerable women living alone, the jury was told.
Hilda Ashdown, 82, died 10 days after becoming Simmonds's sixth victim on March 15 last year, it is claimed.
She was punched twice in the face by her attacker after she tried to fight him off when he barged into her home on Monclar Road, near Denmark Hill, the court heard.
Simmonds also targeted 11 other pensioners aged between 68 and 95 using the tactic of knocking on their doors in the morning when they may have been expecting the postman.
Mr Kjaer told the court he was attacked as he swept cigarette butts off the forecourt of a friend's home in Camberwell Park, on June 14, 2002.
He said: "I felt somebody pull my wallet from my back pocket.
"I just turned round and saw this person with my wallet in his hand.
"I grabbed him by his jacket. We were struggling and it came off him."
Mr Kjaer said he was holding Simmonds to the ground and eventually some passers-by came to help him.
He said Simmonds managed to get away while they were distracted looking for the wallet which was found in a nearby gutter.
Simmonds, of Tobey Close, White Hart Street, Kennington, is allegedly linked to the attacks by DNA, a shoeprint, fingerprint and identification by a witness.
The 26-year-old denies murder, GBH with intent, 11 counts of robbery and two counts of assault with intent to rob between June 14, 2002 and April 19, 2003. The trial continues.