Grandmother admits 'poke' charge

A 71-year-old grandmother has admitted assaulting a teenager after she poked him in the chest for throwing stones at her house.

Renate Bowling, who has osteoporosis, curvature of the spine and diabetes, was given a conditional discharge at Blackpool Magistrates' Court.

She admitted assaulting the 17-year-old outside her home in Thornton Cleveleys, but said she was "sick of abuse".

The mother-of-three was also fined £50 for the offence.

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Bowling expressed "disgust" at her prosecution.

'Many atrocities'

"I was treated like a criminal and thrown into the back of a police van," she said.

"I have been terrorised for many months and I just can't take it anymore.

"I did not injure him, I had just had enough and I wanted to see who he was.

"Stones and rocks have been hurled at my windows, I have been called a German whore and I feel scared in my own home.

"My husband has passed away and I live alone, without my children and my grandchildren I would despair."

The pensioner, who left Germany in 1945, brought her family up in Lancashire.

"I have seen so many atrocities, dealt with so much pain. I have brought up three strapping men who have fought for this country.

"I do not need this kind of abuse."