A shocked pensioner has been left worried about contracting Covid-19 after a half-naked man tried to wrestle shears from his hands.

Norman Robinson, 89, was pruning a tree in his front garden in Glen Iris Avenue, Canterbury, when he was “attacked” by a topless stranger.

Mr Robinson’s son Philip, 60, said: “This guy walked straight up to him and started wrestling with him, muttering away. The garden implement this chap was trying to wrestle from him has very sharp edges. My dad was worried that if he got hold of it, was that going to be the end?”

But Mr Robinson, who stands at about 5ft 5in, managed to fight off the man and keep hold of his shears.

“I think the adrenaline must have kept him going, because he is very, very frail,” said his son. “If he’d been hurt, it would have been very serious.”

Hearing Mr Robinson’s cries for help, a neighbour rushed across the road and managed to split up the struggle.

“After the neighbours separated him from my dad, the man stripped off his clothes,” said Philip.

“The police arrived and in the end it took four officers to restrain the man, at which point an ambulance turned up.”

Police say the man was taken to a local hospital following a “suspected medical episode”.

Mr Robinson, who acts as carer for his elderly wife who has dementia, was not hurt but has been left concerned that the same could happen again.

“I think my dad is worried that this man might come back,” said Philip. “There hasn’t been any follow-up to say exactly how this man is known, where he’s from, is he violent?

“My dad just feels totally powerless, overawed by the whole thing, and says he’s just thankful he’s alive.

“It’s brought home to him his own frailty. He’s dealt with lots over the years, but this is the first time that something has genuinely shaken him.

“It has put this huge question mark over whether they should be living in their own house, and how secure things are.”

"Have they passed the virus to my father?"

Philip says he is concerned his dad could have been exposed to Covid-19, and has requested for him to be tested.

“Home is the only area that elderly people can be sure they’re not going to get coronavirus,” he said. “But someone who’s physically laying hands on another person - have they passed the virus to my father?”

Police say their investigation into the incident has been filed, pending any new information, after Mr Robinson was “written to confirming he did not wish to support further police action”.

But Philip, who lives 120 miles away from Canterbury, hopes to put people living nearby “on alert” in case the man returns.

Ch Insp Elena Hall said: “Kent Police understands the impact such incidents may have on those involved and will always work to put victims and witnesses first and protect the public from harm.”

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