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Knife threat ordeal in raid attempt
A HORSEWOMAN was threatened by a thug with a 12-inch blade as he tried to steal a top-of-the-range trailer from her family farm in a rural South Yorkshire backwater.
Liz Attwood came upon the knife-wielding intruder as he tried to make off with her new 15,000 horse trailer and Land Rover Discovery from outside the front door of her livery stables next to the Earl of Scarbrough's country estate at Firbeck, near Rotherham.
Angry Liz, aged 51, and her friend Drina Holmes, who was at the stables visiting her horse, chased the would-be thief down the drive for 100 yards.
But the man, aged about 28, who was with an accomplice, spun round at the gateway of the property and waved the huge pointed blade at Liz while snarling: "Stay back."
He added grimly: "Come any nearer and you'll get this."
A stolen car, which had been lying in wait with two other men inside, screeched to a halt outside the farm moments later, and escaped with the intruders.
A motorist passing the scene of the hold-up managed to jot down the number of the gold N-reg Volvo, but the getaway car was found abandoned near Doncaster shortly afterwards.
Today Liz said she was shocked by the violent nature of the raid.
The married mum-of-one admitted: "You hear a lot about knife crime in the towns and cities but I never imagined for a minute it was sort of thing that would happen out here in the countryside.
"It really is a shocking thing to think someone would come along to steal a Range Rover and a horse box armed with such a terrible weapon.
"Maybe we shouldn't have chased the man down the drive, but you don't stop to think about the danger at times like that. You just act instinctively to protect your property.
"I was stunned when he pulled out the knife. The blade was at least 12ins long and it looked pretty scary when he stretched out his arm and pointed it straight at me.
"If we'd tripped him up and tried to stop him my feeling is he'd have used the knife."
Liz suspects her fashionable Equi-Trek horse trailer, with its fully furnished kitchen, bathroom, twin bunks, and built-in horse shower, was the target of the attack.
She said: "There's quite a demand for horse trailers nowadays with a lot of people getting rid of their big, old horse boxes, and I've got a feeling that's what they were after rather than the Land Rover or the horses or anything else."
Police believe the gang toured other stables in the Tickhill area of Doncaster before homing in on Liz's farm.
The knifeman, who spoke with a strong Irish accent, was stocky and 6ft tall. His accomplice was 5ft 10ins and aged about 40.
South Yorkshire Police confirmed investigations are underway.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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