Maisie, 82, beat pair with brush

Maisie Chapman fended off the men with a brush

A feisty 82-year-old woman has described how she beat off two intruders with a floor brush and her Bible at her east Belfast home.

Maisie Chapman was resting at her Oberon Street home on Saturday afternoon.

She heard a noise and found a stranger in her hallway and a second man upstairs ransacking her bedroom.

"I have a brush behind the door... I lifted it and gave them a whack," Mrs Chapman said.

"When I lifted the brush, I lifted my Bible and said, 'This is the word of God'. They're bad rascals and I think I scared them - one of them was shaking."

Earlier, the stranger in the hall claimed he was a policeman. But he had no identity card.

Mrs Chapman went upstairs to where the second man was ransacking her bedroom.

"I started to scream when he pushed me on to the bed and he told me to stop," she said.

When I lifted the brush, I lifted my Bible and said, 'This is the word of God'. They're bad rascals and I think I scared them Maisie Chapman

"But I didn't stop and I just kept screaming. Then he got his two hands and held them over my mouth and I couldn't breathe. But I got one of my arms free and I pushed him and I got free.

"I hobbled down the stairs and went over to my neighbours to get the police."

The men left the house empty handed. Mrs Chapman, a widow, was shaken by her ordeal.

It is not the first time that people have broken into her home. It has happened twice before.

But she has lived in Oberon Street for more than 50 years and she said she has no intention of leaving it.