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WANSTEAD: Have-a-go hero gives mugger 'proper hiding' (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)
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Wanstead man steps in to tackle mugger at Santander cashpoint in Wanstead High Street
1:37pm Wednesday 26th September 2012 in News
By Dominic Sutton, Senior reporter
A MUGGER was left bloodied and bruised at a high street cashpoint when an onlooker stepped in and gave him a ‘proper hiding’.
Scaffolder Tommy Stapleton, 32, of Dangan Road in Wanstead, was enjoying a Saturday afternoon drink outside Bar Room Bar in the High Street, when he heard screaming and shouting outside the Santander Bank a few doors down.
He said: “Funnily enough I was telling my friend how nice Wanstead was when I saw these guys mugging an old man.
“One of them jumped in a white Nissan GTI and sped off, but the other fellow ran into the road.”
Mr Stapleton dropped his drink and rushed from the bar to confront the remaining mugger.
“I rugby tackled him in the middle of the road,” he said.
“He squirmed away from me, so I just clumped him.”
The struggle attracted the attention of diners at the Nice Croissant Café but, just as Mr Stapleton managed to get a grip on the mugger, a crowd of women rushed out and started screaming at him.
Mr Stapleton said: “Some of them were shouting ‘It’s a racist attack!’ because the guy was Asian.
“I had him pinned down and was screaming at the people in the bar to call the police, but with all these women shouting at me I lost my concentration and let him go.”
The mugger ran off down the High Street toward Christ Church Green, leaving Mr Stapleton clutching his jacket and phone.
He said: “I had some of his blood on my left arm from where I’d punched him and I was trying to explain what had happened to a customer who came out of the British Heart Foundation shop.
“She told me I shouldn’t have got involved. I just said ‘Are you stupid?’
“I was scared of getting in trouble because I gave him a proper hiding, but people should step in if they see something like this happening.”
The cashpoint mugging is the third on the high street in as many weeks which the Guardian has been made aware of.
Mr Stapleton said: “I saw your story a couple of weeks back about the two pensioners getting mugged at cash machines on the High Street and I think it’s disgraceful.
“The robbery squad told me nobody ever gets involved, and thanked me for getting his jacket and phone. They were also able to get some DNA off my arm. The victim was just delighted I helped out.
“Hopefully this little runt has learnt his lesson.”
Both muggers are described as Asian, between 18 and 20, and about 5ft 7in.
• Anyone who saw the attack, which took place at about 2.20pm on September 15, should call Ilford CID on 020 8345 1626, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (66)
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2:15pm Wed 26 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
I hope the Police manage to arrest the suspects.
Very Public spirited actions by this young man.
2:16pm Wed 26 Sep 12
T. Watts says...
We need more people like you in our community, as less idiots like those who prevented you from keeping hold of this little scumbag!
A similar thing happened to me outside the Barclay's in Wanstead a few years ago. A little ratboy had tried to snatch a pensioner's mobile phone. I grabbed him and called on other passers-by to help me hold him until the police arrived. Needless to say, no-one would help and he managed to struggle free and escape.
2:37pm Wed 26 Sep 12
louise1986 says...
5:39pm Wed 26 Sep 12
Pie-Face says...
6:49pm Wed 26 Sep 12
LakeBreeze says...
And shame on the idiots who got the wrong idea about what was happening and ruined the chance for immediate arrest of the criminal. Hope what they've got to go on will still be enough to apprehend him.
This world needs more people like Tommy Stapleton, willing to actually STOP something bad happening there and then.
9:06pm Wed 26 Sep 12
Ian RS2000 says...
9:05am Thu 27 Sep 12
amused01 says...
1:38pm Thu 27 Sep 12
G_Whiz says...
Well done to Tommy - a brave thing to do - Especially as these muggers love a knife these days!
Still at least the liberals and those Women will be pleased he got away - To prey on someone else!
4:35pm Thu 27 Sep 12
red37red says...
only downside is now they know where he lives!!!
4:35pm Thu 27 Sep 12
StuFromSaturday says...
It sickens me that the first thing the lefty women assumed was that it was a racist attack. Absolutely sickens me.
They should be named and shamed themselves, it's nothing short of absolutely disgusting.
Good on you, Tommy.
6:43am Fri 28 Sep 12
tjm01 says...
Next time I am in Bar room Bar, Top Man Tom your drinks are on me
8:43am Fri 28 Sep 12
Miss Magoo says...
4:07pm Fri 28 Sep 12
E17_er says...
From the article "He said: “Funnily enough I was telling my friend how nice Wanstead was when I saw these guys mugging an old man. "
So by your usual bitter comments Tommy must be a cranberry tinted spectacle wearer as he thinks Wanstead is a nice place....
Sounds to me like Tommy is exactly the kind of person who likes where they live and is prepared to protect it. Probably the sort of person who doesn't spend his time criticizing every positive article on this site.
Good luck to him.
4:21pm Fri 28 Sep 12
bullyboy says...
4:26pm Fri 28 Sep 12
dtmgables says...
4:34pm Fri 28 Sep 12
mdj says...
How many people's instincts to help in such a situation have been undermined by endless demoralising considerations, not so much of 'Elf and Safety, but feeling the need to ask permission of authority?
How sad to see that the onlookers have been conditioned to take such a stereotyped, cowardly reaction.
It's good to know that such people as Mr Stapleton still live among us.
8:10pm Fri 28 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
8:13pm Fri 28 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
ding.co.uk
I must surely get have a go hero business from this!!!
9:12pm Fri 28 Sep 12
WCBMI5 says...
Why should a bunch of foolish women assume that the white man attempting to detain a coloured man is a "racist attack?" Would they have viewed the recent attack on a white man near Loughton station by two black men to be a "racist" matter and a"hate crime" - which it clearly was! When is this nonsense going to stop? And when will native English people realize just what New Labour immigration 'policy' has done to our country?
9:16pm Fri 28 Sep 12
E17_er says...
If you actually read my comment I was applauding your actions. Did you read this after you'd had a few too many? What part of "good luck to him" did you find offensive?
So remember everyone if you need any scaffolding done by someone who fits the loadsa money cliche and is prone to violent outbursts go with Tommy scaffolding.
9:26pm Fri 28 Sep 12
E17_er says...
Beating up muggers good.
Slagging off an entire area bad.
9:36pm Fri 28 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
Tommy you might have got the wrong end of the stick about e17ers comments directed as these were at Cornbeefur who is a serial troll on this site. Just google cranberry tinted glasses and you'll see a selection of his usual negative nonsense.
However I think you could do with apologising to those of us who live in Walthamstow. Your comments are very offensive.
1:47am Sat 29 Sep 12
Duke of hazzzard says...
Fact, walthamstow is now a dump - 45 years experience tells me so. I blame the council for single handedly destroying it. That doesn't mean the people are trash. It means crime is bad, really bad.
Fact, wanstead isn't safe - police stats tell me so
Fact, doesn't matter how many masters degrees we have, muggers don't discriminate.
And I am sure mine is better than yours e17er, i suggest you look up hbs and so forth, but you are missing the point. Stick to the facts. Crime in walthamstow is dreadful. I've had my car broken into more than a dozen times around the area, had cars stolen and my house broken into three times. My MBA didn't stop them I'm afraid. And I have world famous lawyers living on my road along with a plethora of city professionals...do you think that's why (muggers) they target this area?
The issue here is where where the police? The green and surrounding area are a haven for crimes ranging from alleged drug drop offs, muggings, shocking increase in burglaries in wanstead.
And yet the local authorities insist on soft lighting on the green and the walkways. They are they real criminals.
Well done Thomas for your bravery. 10/10. 0/10 for your comments and the same for those who watched and did nothing, including calling the old bill.
3:57am Sat 29 Sep 12
WCBMI5 says...
E17 today is more like Crater City than a suburb of what used to be the greatest city in the world with a population of seven million souls.
6:55am Sat 29 Sep 12
E17_er says...
Walthamstow in common with so much of London has good points and bad points. Eg William Morris Gallery good, arcade site bad.
Why call us all degenerate scumbags? Why come in making ridiculous comments about house prices?
7:43am Sat 29 Sep 12
E17_er says...
8:23am Sat 29 Sep 12
jimboy66 says...
8:48am Sat 29 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
8:48am Sat 29 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
11:21am Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
Walthamstow has deteriorated over the years from a thriving and lively shopping Town to a place that hardly anyone around in the 40's onwards would recognise today. the once fantastic and famous Market is practically finished and the area is hard to define culturally, but is hardly typically British or English anymore.
There is a pocket in the area known as 'The Village' where there are still efforts to preserve what once was. However, this has been ruined by the Labour Councils, who have turned a blind eye to the various religious establishments created around there, and have added to the down turn by creating modern buildings themselves completely out of keeping with the 500 year old structures and younger period properties.
The Labour Councils insist that period materials are used on a small extension say by a private individual and yet have built monstrosities themselves.
Then you have the 'Arty' Orford Road where 'Islington and Hackney Wannabees' saunter along wearing cranberry tinted spectacles, oozing contentment that they live in the village, paying extortionate prices for a cup of milky coffee and meals accompanied with 'Jus' and 'medleys'. They walk up and down that 100 yards as if they venture further even the Cranberry Specs cannot mask the reality of a depressing crime riddled area, where robberies (muggings) are rife and where there are several unsolved murders and rapes, recently committed in this very location.
They drool at the Pseudo Merchandise sold shuddering in ecstasy at the offerings (or maybe the inflated prices). 'Fifi-Boo-Boo, lets have some Baconjam on Rye Toast and an Organic Village Garden Passion fruit smoothy' one can hear in the early morning.
I can tell you what, had Mr Stapleton, rescued a victim around Walthamstow, I think he would have had an even worse reaction to that at Wanstead from the Cranberry Tinted Wearers.
11:46am Sat 29 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
Doesn't matter that the subject is a guys brave intervention you manage to rant about local people liking their area.
There is of course the marvellous irony of the fact that you spend a couple of paragraphs talking about lack of preservation whilst you are quite happy to slag off all the local efforts to save the cinema. In fact all you ever do is make snide comments from the sidelines whilst those people who you proceed to insult regularly are the ones doing activities to boost the area.
Your comments speak for themselves. The area is unrecognisable from the 40's. I should bloody hope so. The area was being bombed at that time.
It's not even worth wasting breath on the fictions you post. Several recent local unsolved murders? You've posted this nonsense before. A murder in 2002 is not several recent unsolved murders.
Walthamstow is a diverse area. It has people from all demographics. Get over yourself.
As for Tommy he has apologised for insulting the locals round here which is brave and decent thing to do. Perhaps you could take a leaf out of his book sometime and drop your bile for five minutes.
12:07pm Sat 29 Sep 12
E17_er says...
Good to see Tommy withdrawing that comment. Come over to Walthamstow sometime and we'll buy you a pint or two.
12:10pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
The idiots who rescued the Crook are the people I despise as they misread the situation.
Regarding the Granada Cinema (what relevance that has here only you will know as you raised the subject) I am all for the Cinema being restored to its former glory but what people like you fail to grasp is that the Cinema is owned by a Church group who want to make it into a Church. the Granada like many other Walthamstow Treasures was mismanaged along the way by the hopeless Labour Council who now purport to support saving it and like the Stow, the chances are less than slim.
To conclude. Please re-read the thread, I am not the person who deviated from the subject towards Walthamstow. As for 'trolling' you are making a fine example of the definition.
12:49pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
So in summary here is what happens..
First comment you. Stating that there should be more people like Mr. Stapleton and also saying that do-gooders wearing cranberry tinted spectacles would do nothing. For those of us who use this site regularly that's your standard retort to anyone who points out something positive in the area.
More comments congratulating Tommy.
Then you have E17ers comment where he points out that Tommy quite likes his area and by your usual definition of cranberry tinted spectacle wearers that makes Tommy one which makes your original comment nonsensical for those of us who have read or been attacked by your callous rantings before on this site.
More comments
Then Tommy replies to E17ers comment having mistaken it for a criticism of him. In the process he makes a (later apologised for) insulting statement about Walthamstow and its residents.
I then make a comment I hope more eloquently than E17ers that E17er had not been addressing Tommy but addressing you and your incredible track record of negativity in your posts on this site. I also suggest that he should apologize for his comment about Walthamstow.
A few follow up comments discussing that Walthamstow does indeed have its problems but that Tommy's comments were unwise and offensive.
E17er makes a comment along the same lines
Another comment about Tommy's actions being good and comment being bad.
Tommy then withdraws his comments.
Then you arrive again. Commenting on my original post with a rambling diatribe about the area where you both slate it for being ruined and full of people who are overly pleased with the area in your opinion.
I then point out that once again you take an article (any article it would seem) and manage to make it about hate for the local area with your offensive comments about the people who live here. It's helpful to give Tommy and others the context of what was originally said in the earlier comments.
Comment from E17er
You then comment again making belittling comments about people's knowledge on the cinema for example. Which is amusing as I believe the last time I commented on one of your posts was to set straight a series of 7 "Facts" about the cinema of which only one was a Fact (It is currently owned by the church) the others of which were a set of opinions that you had made up. A simple search of the site should bring that article up. As to the relevance let me put the paragraph in again for you that makes crystal clear the relevance.
"There is of course the marvellous irony of the fact that you spend a couple of paragraphs talking about lack of preservation whilst you are quite happy to slag off all the local efforts to save the cinema. In fact all you ever do is make snide comments from the sidelines whilst those people who you proceed to insult regularly are the ones doing activities to boost the area. "
You may not have been the first to mention Walthamstow but you've certainly done your usual to insult your fellow residents. That is what people are criticising you for. You do nothing to help the area and then criticise failings. Why not volunteer some time to something positive instead of posting your negativity on here.
1:11pm Sat 29 Sep 12
E17_er says...
Just to make Cornbeefurs blood pressure go through the roof.
http://m.guardian.co
.uk/money/2012/sep/2
8/convenience-local-
shops-community-spir
it?cat=money&type=ar
ticle
The very shop he has just been slating held up as an example of quality and community spirit.
5:16pm Sat 29 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
Im off to put my cape on and marshall the area obviously after i have been out to dinner and had some more sauvignon no drunken comments from me tonight though i promise!
5:53pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
5:55pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
6:01pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
What is you point in all this thread? Tommy has rescued a mugger from an attacker and you are talking about restaurants in Walthamstow?
have a lie down in a darkened room and repeat, Umm, umm, umm (at least a thousand times or until you fall asleep).
6:30pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
7:55pm Sat 29 Sep 12
WCBMI5 says...
Tony Blair and his ilke did a good job in dividing Britain by setting one group against another and then legislating race problems to warm up the pot!
"Divide and conquer" - Britain and not just Walthamstow - BEWARE OF THE ENEMY WITHIN OUT GATES!!
8:32pm Sat 29 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
Batmans got nothing on me and for the record im not a lowly scaffolder im not even on the tools but that is a ridiculous thing to come out with
This is why im not on facebook or twitter or social media because its ridiculous how grown men or women behave online stop acting like pillocks!
8:32pm Sat 29 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
Batmans got nothing on me and for the record im not a lowly scaffolder im not even on the tools but that is a ridiculous thing to come out with
This is why im not on facebook or twitter or social media because its ridiculous how grown men or women behave online stop acting like pillocks!
9:34pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
A wise man can learn from a fool but a fool cannot learn from a wise man and I would kindly say that you are not wise by what you have contributed thus far.
9:36pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
11:18pm Sat 29 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
A more apt quote for your outpourings would have to be
As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers
1:04am Sun 30 Sep 12
Ferdy54 says...
This discussion started off quite nice then went very silly!!
10:13am Sun 30 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
10:52am Sun 30 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
You obviously have some deep rooted issues.
11:55am Sun 30 Sep 12
tommystapleton says...
1:11pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Cornbeefur says...
1:45pm Sun 30 Sep 12
E17_er says...
Make bizarre statement
Have it contradicted
Case closed.
Troll on sir troll on
5:02pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
5:55pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
He is either doing this because he isn't capable of sustaining an adult discussion or he does it purely to wind people up.
So he is either a misfunctioning individual who cant stand disparate opinions or a malicious one as e17er states.
Though given his predilection for multiple cranberry tinted usernames perhaps both.
6:11pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
6:53pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
7:04pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
7:16pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Alan_1976 says...
7:18pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
7:31pm Sun 30 Sep 12
E17_er says...
To be fair you did call him tedious to begin with.
7:36pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Isaythat says...
8:17pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
8:37pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
8:50pm Sun 30 Sep 12
W F B says...
8:43am Mon 1 Oct 12
Isaythat says...
2:57pm Fri 5 Oct 12
TheRealTommyStapleton!!!!! says...
olding.co.uk or through my Linkedin account Tommy Stapleton which has my photo of myself and my fiance. To those who have made positive input thank you