Felix Stoica, 19, got his just deserts (Picture: Police handout)

Don’t mess with Winifred Peel, ever.

She might be 77, but she’s got a lot of fight in her.

Recently she was approached by three men who tried to mug her of £200 outside a bank in Bromborough, Wirral. But she wasn’t having any of it.

She managed to grab one of the attackers and fought back, banging his head against the cash machine three times.


Piper Dumitru, Florin Geblescu and Felix Stoica, from Manchester, have all been jailed after pleading guilty to robbery.

Prosecutor William Beardmore told Liverpool Crown Court that they drove to the village to find ‘easy targets’.

Piper Dumitru has been jailed for eight months (Picture: Police)

Once they saw Winifred put her pin number in they struck.



Mr Beardmore said: ‘The complainant became aware of somebody standing to her right. He pushed against her, causing her to rock to one side, and she recognised him as a male she had seen exiting Barclays Bank earlier.

‘He said “it’s not working”. She then became aware of a second male she also recognised from having left Barclays Bank.

‘He leaned over her and pressed the button to withdraw £200, and at that point she realised she was being robbed. She took hold of the second male by the collar and banged his head against the cash machine three times to try and stop him.’

They ran off but police tracked them down and police worked out that it was Stoica who had been grabbed by Ms Peel.

Florin Geblescu was jailed for 18 months (Picture: Police handout)

A statement from Ms Peel said: ‘They did not care about how this would affect me. I would definitely say this has changed my life, I will never have the confidence I once did.’

Judge Norman Wright said: ‘You targeted a vulnerable victim, a lady who was 77 years of age. Notwithstanding her age, she resisted, there was a struggle before you made good your escape.’

The court heard Stoica had numerous previous convictions for robbery while the other two had no record.

Defence teams for the men described them as ‘having made a terrible mistake’ and told the court they were each struggling financially.

Stoica, 19, of Levenshulme, was sentenced two years in a young offenders’ institution; Geblescu, 18, also of Levenshulme, to 18 months; and Dumitru, 18, of Longsight, to eight months.