A grieving pensioner who was robbed of his late wife's funeral money in his own home has described how he tried to fight off his masked attacker with his walking stick.

Plucky ex-boxer Alfred Robert Green, 89, known as Bob, was at home in Burford Way, New Addington when a man wearing a balaclava entered the house through an unlocked back door and attacked him.

FROM LAST WEEK: Pensioner uses walking stick to defend himself from masked robber who stole £1,500 in cash

The robber threatened Mr Green with a knife from the kitchen and stole a wallet containing £1,500 in cash - but not before Mr Green managed to "hit him hard" with his walking stick on the evening of Sunday, December 27.

Mr Green had been saving the money to pay off the remaining debts from the funeral of his late wife, Carol, who died last May aged 69 after a five-month battle with cancer.

Now his family has set up a Go Fund Me page online to try and raise money to pay the outstanding funeral costs.

When asked what had made him think to use his stick in self-defence, Mr Green replied as though the answer was obvious.

Your Local Guardian:

Mr Green with grandchildren Alfie, 13, left, and Bobby, three

He said: "I had nothing else. I couldn't get close enough to punch him, so I used my stick.

"I just wasn't strong enough to get hold of him or her, whoever it was."

The son of Mr Green's late wife, Paul Seaman, 49, said: "I was upstairs in the bedroom watching TV with a mate, and I heard him shout out. I ran downstairs and it looked like he was sitting on the floor, but he had been pushed on the floor.

"He's got a walking stick, and said he whacked the guy with that. He's an ex-boxer, he's always been a fit man, but at 89 he doesn't have the strength he used to have - but it doesn't look like it stopped him. He didn't give it up without a fight.

"These people are scumbags to do that to an old man. I know it sounds horrible, but that could kill a person of that age. I could have gone downstairs and he could have been dead on that floor."

A former long-distance lorry driver and builder, among other things - "You name it, he's probably done it" - Mr Green has lived in his house in Burford Way for more than 20 years.

He added: "[The money] was to pay off the funeral expenses - £1,400 to go to the undertaker. Somebody knew I had that money ready to go."

The robbery left Mr Green with injuries to his hands - and despite his heroics at the time of the robbery, his family said the attack had taken an even greater mental toll on him.

Your Local Guardian:

The injuries to Mr Green's hands

His daughter-in-law, Michelle Finch, 35, said: "He has gone really downhill since losing his wife, and even worse since the robbery. He doesn't want to do anything - you're lucky to see him out of bed.

"It's something I would hear about happening on the street, not in your own home. It's one of the safest places to be."

Mr Seaman said: "He's withdrawn now. He's 89 and he was somewhat independent, but now he doesn't do anything.

"Everyone is shocked because you don't expect that to happen in someone's own home. He was targeted because they knew exactly where his money was. He's an old man, he's stuck in his ways, he doesn't like banks. He kept that money on his person all the time, and they knew exactly where it was.

"If it was a bank job, they would call it an inside job."

Ms Finch spoke of her "anger" at the way her father-in-law had been attacked in his own home. She said: "What right has anybody got?"

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said this afternoon that no arrests had been made in the case.

Click here to visit the Go Fund Me page for Bob Green

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