Shocking CCTV: Woman dragged through Leeds street as she fights off BMW raiders

Dramatic CCTV pictures captured the moment Helen Crockett was confronted and dragged up the road outside her established family law practice in Harehills, Leeds, as she desperately clung to her handbag.

“I remember thinking, they are going to kill me,” she said. “It seemed to go on forever.

“I’m about 5ft 6in tall and weigh under eight stone and I’m not particularly strong, but I’m quite strong-willed. I wasn’t about to just casually give up. I just wish I could have done more to fight back.

“It was really traumatic, but I don’t want to become a victim because of it. I’m just really angry.”

Mrs Crockett, who has had the firm Crockett and Co on Harehills Lane since 1993, had left work and was about to get into her BMW Z5, which was parked in Cowper Mount, when she was targeted.

Two hooded men approached her as she put bags into the boot of the car.

She said: “I could sense them watching me.

“I turned to run away, but they grabbed me and pulled me over. They were saying ‘We have got a knife. Give us your keys and your bag’.

“There was no way I was going to let them get away with it. One of them pulled me by the arms and started dragging me up the road and hitting me repeatedly. I don’t remember a lot of what happened – it’s all a bit of a blur.

“They must have got my bag, but then dropped it, because I got it back.

“There was an old man in the off licence up the road shouting at them to stop, but he didn’t want to get involved. Another man was shouting at them from over the road. Iit wasn’t until a woman drove up in a car and got out that they stopped. They got away with my keys, so I’ve had to get them changed. I was scared that they’d come back for the car, but that hasn’t happened.”

Although Mrs Crockett says she has worked in the area for years without serious trouble, the attack was not the first time she has been robbed. In 2011 she was mugged in daylight by thieves who took her handbag as she sat in her car.

“That’s why this time I fought back,” she said.

“There’s always groups of lads hanging around the office. Occasionally I go down and tell them off but it’s never really bothered me.

“I’m much more conscious of my safety now. It was absolutely dreadful. You hear that this sort of thing goes on, but when it happens to you it’s just terrible.”

The incident happened at about 8.50pm on September 23, but police have been carrying out investigations and CCTV enquiries and have only now released details after exhausting other lines of enquiry.

The CCTV cameras that captured the incident had been installed by Mrs Crockett after a previous attempted break-in at the practice.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “The victim received minor injuries and was left 
extremely shocked by the incident.”

The robbers were both described as white.

One was said to have blond hair.

One was wearing an Adidas hooded top with a logo on the front and black or grey trainers with white soles. He was about 5ft 9in.

The other was taller and wearing a dark grey hooded top with tassels on the hood and dark footwear with a high white sole.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or recognises the men from the images is asked to contact Det Con Jessica Sellars at the priority crime team at Stainbeck police station on 0113 2413385 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.