Teacher Dies of Heart Attack After Schoolboy Tried To Mug Her Outside Home

A former teacher died from a heart attack, just days after a 15-year-old school attempted to mug her outside of her home. 

Retired teacher, Brenda Morton, 73, received a fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder, when a teenager attempted to snatch her bag in Birmingham, last year.

The elderly woman has been described as “petite but feisty” after she refused to let the teenage mugger get away with her bag, despite having Parkinson’s disease. Brenda was wrestled to the ground, before her attacker made an escape.

10 days after the attack, Mrs Morton was rushed into hospital after suffering from a heart attack, where she sadly passed away.

Her daughter, Jo, has entered the London marathon to raise money for charity in honour of her mother. She has spoken about the attack for the firs time.

Jo said: “I’m running in memory of my mum. She was kind-hearted, generous, would do anything for anyone, she was my best friend.

“Mum taught at Heathfield Primary School in Handsworth for 40 years. I’d like to think mum would be proud. The hardest part was that it was a 15-year-old boy that was found guilty of manslaughter of my mum.”

The young attacker was sentenced to six-and-a-half years at a youth offenders institution for manslaughter.

Jo addded: “His sentence was irrelevant, I just wanted justice for my mum. I don’t have any anger towards him, I feel sorry for him really that he’s ruined his life.

commenting on how her mother felt after the attack, Jo stated: “She was shaken and badly bruised but she said: ‘I’m not going to let this stop me, they’re not going to stop me living my life’.

“If it had been 10 years ago, she’d have probably had them on the floor. She was petite but feisty. The Parkinson’s had made her weaker.”

Jo hopes to raise £3,000 for Parkinson’s UK to fund more research and awareness of the disease.