Two men charged with robbing a 78-year-old woman told a jury it "100 per cent" didn't happen.
Luke Bowden admitted leaning into Ann Green's car when she was sat in it and snatching her handbag from the passenger seat.
His friend Joseph Durban, who was with him at the time, backed up the account.
But Mrs Green said a man opened her car door, grabbed her bag and thrust her by her hair into the dashboard.
Bowden denied so much as touching her – and urged a jury to examine CCTV which captured him opening and closing the car door in an instant.
Read more: Man who allegedly robbed pensioner in her car after funeral taunted her before running away[1]
Both Durban, 30 of Broadlands Drive in Lawrence Weston, and Bowden, 30, of no fixed address, deny robbery in August last year.
Bowden has admitted theft.
He said on the day in question he and Durban intended to go shoplifting to fund drugs.
But in Penpole Lane, Shirehampton, Durban spotted a bag in a car and they decided to find a brick in order to smash the window and steal it.
What then happened, he said, was a woman returned to the car.
He told the jury that, not to look suspicious, he and Durban turned around and walked towards the woman's car.
It was as they passed it he opened the door and grabbed the bag, he said.
Bowden told the court: "I 100 per cent, definitely did not lay a hand on Mrs Green.
"100 per cent it didn't happen. She is mistaken."
Bowden said they ran off into woodland and took cash, Valium and credit cards before discarding the bag in bushes.
Durban told the jury it was "Sod's law" the woman returned to the car, scuppering their plan to throw a brick through the window and steal the bag.
He said as they walked towards her Bowden opened the door and took the bag.
He told the jury: "He leaned in, grabbed the bag and ran. That is it. 100 per cent. He didn't pass the bag to me. We didn't make faces at the window. It was seconds."
The case continues.
Mum's emotional appeal as Lewis Ball goes missing after leaving Thekla nightclub in Bristol[2]
References
- ^ Man who allegedly robbed pensioner in her car after funeral taunted her before running away (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Mum's emotional appeal as Lewis Ball goes missing after leaving Thekla nightclub in Bristol (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
