Armed robbery attempt in Siggiewi foiled by 78-year-old Briton

The former England Lions rugby international says he tackled a gun-wielding man he discovered in his garage with two other hooded men • Brit says this is the second time in eight days that he discovered three men on his property

An armed robbery attempt by three hooded men in a farmhouse in the 'Tal-Providenza' area, limits of Siggiewi, early Wednesday morning was foiled by the 78-year-old English owner who tackled a man wielding a revolver and chased the three men off his property.

John Ranson told MaltaToday that he was making a cup of tea with his wife at 6.45am and when he walked into the garage, he found three men wearing balaclavas standing there, with one of them holding a revolver.

“I immediately threw the cup of tea I was holding at the man with the revolver, before I rushed, tackling him and banging the fellow behind the door of the garage,” Ranson explained.

He said the men seemed surprised that he had reacted so swiftly to their presence and were obviously not prepared to deal with any opposition, because – after some panicked shouting at him and each other – all three ran away and off the property.

Ranson said that despite his age, he was still fast on his feet and, having played rugby for England in his heyday, he still had good reflexes.

According to Ranson, the men might have been speaking Italian, although he could not be sure.

“But I am sure they were not speaking Maltese,” stated Ranson, who has lived in Malta for 26 years and who has even had lessons to learn Maltese.

Officers from the police forensic unit were called to examine the scene and managed to retrieve some footprints, according to Ranson.

MaltaToday learned that exactly a week ago, Ranson had already found three men inside the ‘remissa’ on his property.

In that first incident last Wednesday, the men had claimed to be Italian and that they were there to see if he had anything to sell.

But Ranson, who saw that they were all heavily tattooed and that one of them carried a large empty bag in his hands, ordered them off his property and reported the incident to the police.

He had also noted down the license plate number of a large dark blue BMW that the men drove off in, but was later told by the police that the number plate resulted to be fake or stolen.