I'm not violet person but a big part of me wishes I had skelped him with hammer

Great gran chases off armed store raider, OAP dodges blows trying to protect the till

- STEVEN RAE

A FEARLESS great-gran who chased off a hammer-wielding thug when he tried to rob the store she works in has admitted she wishes she'd "skelped" him.

Shopworker Jean McGill, 70, dodged attempted blows by lout Brian Millar as he tried to steal cash from the till at a newsagent in Dundee.

Jean then grabbed a hammer of her own that she'd been using to bash in nails and went after the masked thug, throwing it after him as he fled.

She said: "He swung and tried to hit me more than once, and came close but I managed to lean back and get out of the way.

"He would definitely have hit me. It was horrific and terrifying.

"That's when I got my hammer. I'm not a violent person but a big part of me wishes I skelped him with it, I really do.

"I threw the hammer at him as he tried to get away but I just didn't quite hit him.

"I'm just sorry it didn't connect after what he did and what he put us through." A court heard that Millar, who was jailed for one year for the raid, had "met his match" when he came face to face with the feisty pensioner.

Jean had only just opened Forbes Newsagents on Dundee's Clepington Road when Millar entered while brandishing the weapon at about 4.50am on March 11.

But the 26-year-old got more than he bargained for when Jean stood up to him as he repeatedly tried to hit her with the hammer as she protected the shop till.