The story of the old lady that 'clobbered' robbers with her handbag took a strange twist today when WBA champion boxer Amir Khan claimed it was him. Video of the raid on a jeweller's in Northampton shows what appears to be an elderly woman in a red coat dashing across the road to attack the masked raiders, some of whom are armed with sledgehammers. One robber was knocked off his getaway vehicle and held until police arrived.
However, Khan has now come forward to admit that it was actually him, dressed as an old lady, who intervened and stopped the raiders.
"It may seem a bit weird," Khan told the Daily Telegraph, "but people often recognise me in the street and I can't get anything done. So if I want to do a bit of shopping or whatever, I wear a disguise. It started off with just a hat and sunglasses, but now I often go out as an old woman - everyone is really nice to me."
Khan, currently WBA World Light-Welterweight Champion, says that when he saw the robbery taking place he couldn't just ignore it. "Everyone was just watching, and I got riled up thinking it was happening in broad daylight. I just waded in without thinking about it."
Even though he attacked the robbers, it can be seen on the video footage that he managed to stay in character, hitting them with his handbag. He claims he couldn't punch anyone because of the chance of damaging his hands. "I couldn't risk it with the World Title defence coming up in April."
