Pensioner Derek Jones has described how a rush of adrenaline helped him overcome age and arthritis as he chased an alleged shoplifter through the streets of Looe this week. Derek, 73, from Herodsfoot, better known to locals as 'Grandad', was in his stepdaughter Alison Martin's shop, the Purely Cornish Delicatessen in Buller Street on Tuesday morning when he says he witnessed a theft from the display inside. 'I don't know what came over me,' said Derek, who was a farmer until he fell 23 feet injuring his back, forcing him to retire. He now helps out at the shop running a vegetable stall. 'Sometimes I am in so much pain that I can hardly walk, but the adrenaline hit me and I had to do something about it.' Derek chased the alleged culprit along Buller Quay nearly as far as the beach when a local shopkeeper, seeing what was happening, joined in and made a citizen's arrest. 'I don't know how my legs carried me that far,' said Derek later. 'I'm a bit stiff now!'
Shop staff Andy Parritt, who runs Purely Cornish with Alison, paid tribute to have-a-go hero Derek's bravery. 'I was at our farm shop at St Martins when it all happened and I cycled back to Looe the minute I heard what had happened. 'I don't expect our shop staff to do this kind of thing but I'm just so proud that they care so much about our interests and our shop.' The shopkeeper who made the citizen's arrest has asked to remain anonymous but said the sight of a man in his 70s giving chase was not an everyday occurrence. 'Derek is one of the "old school" who believes in right and wrong and his actions show the attitude of those who will not stand for crime being accepted as the norm.'
l A youth has been bailed to appear before Bodmin Youth Court on Monday morning.