Man held after hit-and-run raids on Britons

LIMASSOL police yesterday arrested a 26 year-old-man in connection with two hit-and-run raids against foreigners on Tuesday night.

Police said the man had been tracked down shortly after midnight in Yermasoyia, after two separate complaints that a man driving a white car had bumped into pedestrians and grabbed their bags.

The last complaint came from two British tourists who said they had been approached by the car shortly after midnight and had their bags stolen. Police sealed off the area and eventually stopped the car at a roadblock.

Earlier, a retired British couple had been attacked in Pissouri – apparently by the same car – losing a wallet and a handbag to the thief.

Barry Hornett, 61, and his wife Janice, 57, were returning to their car from a shopping trip to the local supermarket when the incident happened.

A wallet containing £100 and credit cards was stolen, but Hornett stressed how lucky he felt that his wife had been unharmed.

“I gave my wallet and bag to my wife, then all of a sudden a car brushed past us and knocked my wife to one side. Then the driver reached out of his window and grabbed the things out my wife’s hand,” Hornett told the Cyprus Mail.

He reported the incident to Pissouri police and described the man as being with short dark hair, driving a white car without a registration plate. The car in the Yermosia incident was also described as white with no number plates.

Pissouri police told Hornett it was the first time this kind of raid had been reported in the Pissouri area.

Limassol police say the 26-year-old confessed to the theft.

Hornett expressed his disappointment: “The biggest shock was that after years of staying in Pissouri for holiday retreats, this sort of crime has happened here in Pissouri, which has been our quiet lovely home.”