MP, 66, injured in struggle with mugger

A 66-year-old London MP told today how he was injured trying to fight off a young mugger who stole his wallet.

Brian Sedgemore, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, was walking home from a chip shop in his constituency when he was accosted by a 25-year-old man begging for money.

"He said he was hungry but he didn't look it," said Mr Sedgemore. "I carried on walking, at which point he began to follow me."

The MP realised he was in danger and crossed the road but the beggar followed.

"It was then that I thought: 'You've got to do something about this,'" the 6ft 4in former rugby player said.

"I was just about to turn around to confront him when I heard this noise and a hand went into my pocket. I grabbed his wrist and there was a struggle. He wrenched the wallet out of my pocket and I kept grabbing his wrist to try to stop him. As he wrenched it out I twisted my knee.

"He ran off like an international sprinter. I tried to run after him but realised I'd damaged my knee. When I woke up the next day I couldn't walk."

The robbery, which took place last Saturday at 8.30pm near his home in Upper Clapton, left the MP in shock. The next day his wife Audrey - whom he remarried last September after a break of 19 years - took him to hospital for treatment.

Doctors told him he had pulled a ligament in his right knee, aggravating an old rugby injury.

They gave him a set of crutches which he is still hobbling around on today, and told him to rest for a week. His stolen wallet contained £120 in cash, four credit cards and a House of Commons pass.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the mugging.

The Labour rebel, who recently squared up to Tony Blair over foundation hospitals and has launched blistering attacks on colleagues in the Labour Party, said: "I have not been terrified by this incident, but I can imagine other people, especially the elderly, would be. I was amazed because muggers don't normally go for people who are 6ft 4in."

The MP, who is due to retire at the next election, added: "I feel very stupid. I keep thinking: Why didn't I react quicker?

"I should have jammed my elbow into him. Then he would have been the one to be hurt and shocked. My reactions are obviously getting slower."