News from around the county Kenneth, 88, uses army skills to see off robbers
A battling pensioner saw off two armed robbers from his house with a single punch.
Kenneth Brown’s unarmed combat skills from the army kicked in when he thumped one of the thugs, who had a knife.
The cowardly raiders then ran away empty-handed.
The slightly- built man – who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs just nine stone – said: “I didn’t think about the danger. I told the police I could have done them a lot more damage, but I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the law.’’
Teenagers Tom Love and Jack Saunders, who had the knife, have now been jailed.
They had raided the Second World War veteran’s home in Lympne at about 3.30pm on Sunday, April 14, 2013, while Mr Brown was watch- ing cricket on television. The 88-year-old said: “I heard a banging on the double glazing of my door and there were two youngsters outside.
“They demanded money and one of them pulled back his sleeve and showed that he had a knife.
“I remembered my army training and let him have it. I punched him with my right hand on the chest. That pushed him backwards, although he didn’t fall over.
“Then they both went off. I had no time to be scared and that’s how they train you in the army.’’
Saunders was given 19 months’ youth custody and Love got 11 months.
Mr Brown said: “That may teach them a lesson. Young people like these try it on with old people.’’
Mr Brown served with the Somerset Light Infantry in Asia, mostly in India, in the last months of the Second World War.
He was conscripted in the spring of 1945 as the war in Europe was ending but the Allies were still fighting the Japanese in the Far East.