Centenarian "bear-hugged" thief

"I could box him", Mr Michalski told Oxford Crown Court

A 101-year-old war veteran from north Oxford told a court he was afraid of suffocating a man 54 years his junior who stole £300 from him.

Kazimierz Michalski said he grabbed Stephen Gillespie, 47, held him in a bear hug and demanded his wallet back.

"You no doubt saw him as an easy target," Judge Mark Ockelton told Gillespie, "but you'd bitten off more than you could chew."

"I could box him", Mr Michalski said. "He's weak in comparison to me."

"I was afraid I was going to suffocate him, so I let go. He was free. He ran down the steps and I wasn't able to chase and he escaped."

Bus ride

Gillespie met the pensioner at Sunday Mass at Black Friars Priory in St Giles, Oxford, on 8 March 2009.

Mr Michalski invited Gillespie home to fix a leak in his roof

They caught the bus together to Mr Michalski's home after Gillespie, of Wolvercote, Oxford, offered to fix a leak in his roof.

It was there the confrontation took place but the centenarian was not willing to part with his charity money without a fight.

When Pc Matthew Sulley came onto the scene he said he found a "shaken" Mr Michalski with cuts to his face.

Gillespie, who had a string of convictions and a history of drug addiction, pleaded not guilty to theft and robbery at Oxford Crown Court on 17 September 2009.

He was found guilty of theft and sentenced to three years in prison.

Judge Mark Ockelton called the crime "mean and selfish".

Charity

Mr Michalski said he had intended to send the £300 to charity to help educate children in Poland.

However, Gillespie spent all the money. Mr Michalski is appealing for funds to replace the charity donation he was going to send.

Mr Michalski was both a lawyer and a civil judge in Poland, before he fought in World War II.

Afterwards he settled in Oxford and worked as a librarian at the Bodleian Law Library.