'I hope I hurt his foot' says plucky Joan, 81

“I hope I hurt his foot,” said the plucky pensioner at her home near Doncaster town centre.

Joan Johnson, aged 81, was wary of bogus callers after reading warnings in The Star by police following a spate of distraction burglaries over the summer.

When a man called at her house in Beechfield Road last Monday and told her they were laying some pipes and wanted to turn her water off, she refused to let him inside her house, ignoring his warnings that there would be an explosion if she didn’t.

Mrs Johnson said: “I’d seen something in The Star and I thought of that when I opened the door. He just kept saying the same words over and over and I was suspicious.

“He wanted to come in but I said it was my house and he wasn’t coming in. He tried to put his foot in the doorway and I shut the door on him. I hope I hurt his foot. Then he turned and went.”

Mrs Johnson was shaken by the incident and called police who confirmed she had acted correctly by refusing to let him in.

“I was determined he wasn’t coming in and I’ll be even more on my guard now I’ve seen how they operate.

“I suppose some old people are more trusting than others and let them in,” she added.

The incident was one of five similar ones across Doncaster in a two-day period last week which detectives believe may be linked. Police have now released details of another incident which occurred not far from Mrs Johnson’s house a fortnight ago with a less happy ending.

A man knocked on the door of a 77-year-old woman’s home in Cooper Street, Hyde Park, and said he needed to check her taps as he was fixing a water pipe in the area.

The woman let the man into the kitchen while she ran the taps.

He left 10 minutes later and she discovered her handbag was missing. It is thought that another person may have entered the property while the woman was in the kitchen with the man.

The man was described as, white, approximately 45 years old, 5ft 9in tall and of a stocky build.

He had short dark brown hair and spoke with a local accent.

He was wearing a long-sleeved high visibility jacket.

Anyone with information should call Det Sgt Rich Partridge on 01302 385139 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.