Disabled man fought off armed robbers using bed warming pan

Terence Dimmock, a disabled man, used an antique bed warming pan to fight off gun-wielding robbers who broke into his home. Mr Dimmock, 63, snatched the copper pan off the wall and hit one of the raiders around the head after he was pistol whipped with an imitation gun. Mr Dimmock, who suffers from a bad back, also managed to bite the arm of robber Phillip Scarrott after he grabbed him round the throat. The robbers fled with his wallet containing £100 in cash, a bank card, a fishing licence and his bus pass.



Scarrott, 22, was caught after police matched saliva left on the 3ft-long warming pan with his DNA. He was jailed for six-and-a-half years after he admitted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday. Mr Dimmock, who has a grown-up daughter and one grandchild, said: "I was watching television and heard a knock at the door. I opened it and these two big men asked if I owned a cat because they'd run one over.

"As I was starting to say 'no' they pushed me into the house and one of them shoved a gun in my face. They were shouting 'give us your money, you were made redundant and we want your £30,000 redundancy money'. I told them 'that was 10 years ago and I spent the money buying my house'. One of them started hitting me with the gun so I grabbed the pan off the wall and just lashed out. I got a couple of good shots in and the robber shouted at Scarrott to grab me but when he did I bit him as hard as I could on the arm.



"I'm not a violent man and just acted instinctively, I was so angry that two men had tried to rob me I wanted to kill them. They ran off and I managed to run to a neighbour who called the police. It's shaken me up a lot and I carry a knife in my pocket when I answer the door now." Terence, who lives alone, bought the pan warmer as an ornament from a car boot sale five years for £1. Officers took samples of saliva left on the bed warmer which matched Scarrott's DNA which was on the police database and arrested him on September 3.