A GANG of hammer-wielding masked raiders were made to look like pussy cats when a top celebrity chef’s feisty Jack Russell terrier chased them off during an attempted burglary.
Brummie kitchen whizz Glynn Purnell revealed how his plucky pooch Whoops – a tiny terrier – sent the burly burglars packing during the late night raid.
The Michelin-starred chef, his partner Kerry and their three young children were asleep when hammer-wielding thugs smashed their way into the rural property.
But the bandits got more than they bargained for when Whoops the wonder dog, a seven-year-old female, sprang to the family’s defence.
The panicking intruders fled with their tails between their legs after grabbing a couple of toddlers’ bags which contained nothing but nappies and dummies.
And they may have got off lightly as burly Purnell, 37, is a keen martial arts enthusiast with a love of kickboxing and aikido.
Purnell, who has worked with Gordon Ramsay and Gary Rhodes, said: “Having kids, it is just frightening to think what might have happened.
“I keep asking myself what I would have done if I had come down and seen the burglars.
“I would love to have caught them and shown them some of my fighting skills, but Whoops stole my thunder.
“It just goes to show that whatever security you have got, nothing is as effective as a small dog.”
Whoops was rewarded with with a slap-up home-cooked dinner of slow-roast pork, with a spring onion risotto and green beans.
Purnell said that the diminutive dynamo is a loving family dog but that the burglars would have seen her aggressive streak.
He said: “She’s as hard as nails. I used to have problems with her on the lead because she would fight any other dog.
“Jack Russells have small dog syndrome. The burglars would have been no match for her.”
Purnell, boss of Purnell’s and The Asquith in Birmingham, went to bed at 1am on Monday after being prompted by Kerry to check the front and back doors were secure.
The first the couple knew of the break-in was when 37-year-old Kerry went into the pantry the following morning and saw the smashed window, near Whoops’s bed.
Purnell, who has three children, Oliver, six, Esme, three, and nine-month-old Vincent said: “The back window in the pantry had been knocked in.
“They broke in, smashed the blind, climbed in and jumped down.
“They grabbed a couple of bags off a hook, but they were just baby bags.
“There were car keys on the side, bags and handbags on the side.
“It looks like they’ve just panicked and tried to get out of the house and just fled.”
“There was a hammer left in the garden, so they must have been in a rush to get away.”
Glynn added that Whoops had been more effective than his pricey alarm system.
He said: “We’ve been really really lucky, we’ve got a fantastic alarm system and all the rest of it, but at the end of the day the best defence was my seven-year-old Jack Russell.
“The security measures were a waste of money, by the looks of it.”
Glynn said the response from police had been `fantastic’.
“It’s been like CSI in here with the police dusting for prints,“ he added.
“I think we have been extremely lucky. It could have been a lot worse. We live in a quiet part of a village and they could have held us hostage and cleared the place out.
“It doesn’t matter where you live or what security you have, burglars will have a go.”
A spokeswoman for Warwickshire Police said tackling burglary was a priority for the force. She added: “The most important thing is to keep doors and windows locked and to review security.“
