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A teenage robber got more than he bargained for when his 77-year-old victim rammed his head into a cash machine.

A gang of three men snatched £200 from pensioner Winifred Peel outside a Bromborough bank, but not before Ms Peel managed to grab one of her attackers and fight back.

Piper Dumitru, Florin Geblescu and Felix Stoica, all Romanian teenagers living in Manchester, were today locked up after pleading guilty to robbery.

William Beardmore, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court the men had driven to the Bromborough Village area on April 19, on the lookout for “easy targets” to rob.

Ms Peel had put her bank card into the cash point outside HSBC, on Bromborough Village Road, and entered her pin when the gang struck.

Mr Beardmore said: “The complainant became aware of somebody standing immediately 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.

“Consequent to that realisation 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.”

The robbers were able to escape and Ms Peel made her way into the bank to seek help.

They were traced and arrested after CCTV images were circulated showing them skulking around the area.

The court heard Geblescu and Stoica confessed in their police interviews, and officers established it was Stoica who had been grabbed by Ms Peel.

Mr Beardmore said Dumitru, who acted as a lookout, had driven the gang to Bromborough from Manchester, despite being disqualified for dangerous driving.

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. I only hope my confidence returns.”

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.

“This is a lady who is in the twilight of life, and you have cast a deep shadow over that.”

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 Broom Lane, Levenshulme, was sentenced two years in a young offenders’ institution; Geblescu, 18, of Victoria Road in Levenshulme to 18 months; and Dumitru, also 18, of Longden Road in Longsight, to eight months.