UK NEWS

MOTHER NABS 'CAR VANDALS' IN HER PYJAMAS

LAST STRAW: Nina's street had been plagued by car vandals in the past

Tuesday August 26,2008

By Geoff Maynard

A HAVE-A-GO heroine, angry that her car was being vandalised, confronted two hoodies and frogmarched them back to her house.

Nina Stevens, who had gone out in her pyjamas, then waited for the police to arrive, furious that her vehicle was being attacked for the sixth time in six months.

Her street has been plagued by a gang of vandals who prowl the area in the early hours ripping off wing mirrors and scratching paint.

So when Nina, 37, was woken at 4am by the sound of the latest attack on her Citroen Zantia, she marched outside still wearing her pyjamas. She grabbed the two suspects, aged 12 and 14, by their collars and dragged them into her home.

Nina, along with her boyfriend Richard King, 40, then sat guard over them until officers arrived and took them to the police station. There the two were charged with criminal damage and theft and are due to appear in court this week.

Mother-of-two Nina said at her home in Wellington, Somerset: “We’d had our car damaged five times in the last six months. I got really upset about it.

“My wing mirror had been left hanging on with tape because I couldn’t afford to keep getting it repaired at £250 a time.

We had guests staying and I suddenly woke up and realised the vandals were destroying their car as well as mine. I legged it out of the back door. It wasn’t until I got to the car park that I realised it could be dangerous, but by that point I didn’t care.

“My adrenalin was pumping, I was really worked up and I just wanted to catch them. I wasn’t going to put up with it any longer.”

Nina, who works in a health food shop, added: “I ran up to them, asked them what they were doing and said ‘I think you’d better come with me’.

“They seemed surprised so I grabbed them by the collar and took them back to my house. One of them kept tugging and trying to pull forward, but I had a firm grip and I wasn’t letting go. I’m a parent and I acted like a parent.

“We need to get the message across that we are not standing for this sort of behaviour.” Both youths face charges of criminal damage and the 14-year-old was also charged with theft.

Avon and Somerset Police said: “In relation to detaining offenders, police would ask residents to be aware of their own personal safety and not to put themselves at risk.”