Moment woman chases thief in her bath towel while wielding baseball bat after catching him stealing tools from van on security camera

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗
Cite

Day, O. (2026, September 4). Moment woman chases thief in her bath towel while wielding baseball bat after catching him stealing tools from van on security camera. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16104979/woman-towel-thief-broadstone-dorset.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-09-04 · by Olivia Day

Quick Summary

Nicki Vine, 21, confronted a man trying to steal equipment from her father's van in Broadstone, Dorset. The incident occurred at around 11:30pm on Tuesday, after Vine had just gotten out of the bath and noticed suspicious activity on the security camera footage. Vine chased the thief down the street with a baseball bat while wearing only a bath towel, but he escaped with an accomplice on a motorbike. Vine said she wasn't going to sit back as a thief tried to take her family's "livelihood".
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-05, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On Tuesday evening, 11:30 pm, 21-year-old Nicki Vine was sitting on the sofa after getting out of a bath when she noticed movement detected by her neighbor's security camera. She went outside to investigate and saw a helmet-clad thief trying to steal equipment from her father's van in Broadstone, Dorset. Vine confronted the thief, who wore tracksuit pants, trainers, and a padded jacket, and swung a baseball bat above her head as he tried to flee with an accomplice on a motorbike. Vine chased after them, even throwing the bat at the bike as they drove past. Despite being shaken, Vine was able to stop the thieves from stealing more equipment.

Written for “Woman Foils Home Burglar” on 2026-10-21, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Woman Foils Home Burglar
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
34
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 34 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 6659 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Olivia Day
30 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 They believe he would pose a threat to their family if he was released early in India, having previously threatened Alice's younger sister Emma.
🔮 Mr Macron will hold an emergency meeting with top government officials on Sunday afternoon, before addressing the nation at 8pm, his office said.
🔮 Six firefighter units have joined rescue teams, police divers and drones in the search. Cabrera de Mar mayor Oscar Fernandez said yesterday as the search got underway: 'A family attempted to cross the stream on foot. '
🔮 The chiropractor said he did not specifically recall this incident, but that he may have used the words 'burn this away' as this is something he might say.
🔮 A council worker suggested a wheelchair–bound amputee could be mobile enough to run a marathon while denying his request for a blue parking badge.
🔮 The travel watchdog found that four in five people said they would report an incident of hate or sexual harassment on London transport, but only two in five who experience such an incident come forward.
🔮 One woman wrote: 'Simply put, she was an amazing mum and partner, she would not hesitate to give you her last and think nothing of it, and had the most infectious laugh, always happy and smiling, her family are beyond devastated.'
🔮 Their little sister Summer-Gracie, who is now three-years-old, will never get to meet her siblings who would have loved her so much.
🔮 But Mr Bevan's lawyers are challenging that decision, arguing Judge Bird was wrong to conclude their client's symptoms couldn't be linked to acoustic shock.
🔮 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who will next week make their first joint appearance since returning to Britain – moved to the Cotswolds in September, six years after quitting the working monarchy for a new life in the US.
Also by Olivia Day
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 30 articles by Olivia Day →

Topics

Broadstone Daily Mail Dorset

Subjects

Vine ORG · 7× Daily Mail ORG · 2× Nicki Vine PERSON · 2× Broadstone ORG · 1× Darren PERSON · 1× Dorset GPE · 1× Dorset Police ORG · 1× Facebook ORG · 1× Ms Vine PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Nicki Vine is seen sprinting around the corner holding her towel in one hand and a baseball bat in the other after spotting a thief opening the sliding door to her dad's van The thief, who wore tracksuit pants, trainers and a padded jacket, bolted down the street Ms Vine had spotted the thief opening the sliding door to her father's van just seconds before Ms Vine works with her father, Darren, as a plasterer.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-05
🔮 I didn't really care about what would happen, you have just got to stand up for yourself.

Claims (34 extracted, 0 hedged)

- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source This is the moment a young woman wearing only a bath towel stops a thief in his tracks after catching him trying to steal tools from her father's van. asserted
woman → see → van
Nicki Vine, 21, was left shaking after she confronted a man trying to steal equipment from the van parked outside their home in Broadstone, Dorset. asserted
she → leave → Broadstone
She had just got out of the bath and was sitting on the sofa when she noticed her neighbour's security camera had detected movement about 11.30pm on Tuesday. asserted
camera → get → Tuesday
She got up to have a closer look and spotted a helmet-clad thief opening the van's sliding door and peering inside. Ms Vine said she got a 'little bit angry' and ran outside to confront the thief. asserted
she → get → thief
In security camera footage, the young woman is seen sprinting around the corner holding her towel in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. asserted
woman → see → other
The thief, who wore tracksuit pants, trainers and a padded jacket, bolted away from the van and down the street as Ms Vine swung the bat above her head. asserted
Vine → wear → head
He fled the scene with an accomplice on a motorbike, with Ms Vine seen throwing the bat at them and shouting as they drove past her. asserted
they → flee → her
Nicki Vine is seen sprinting around the corner holding her towel in one hand and a baseball bat in the other after spotting a thief opening the sliding door to her dad's van The thief, who wore tracksuit pants, trainers and a padded jacket, bolted down the street Ms Vine had spotted the thief opening the sliding door to her father's van just seconds before Ms Vine works with her father, Darren, as a plasterer. asserted
Vine → see → plasterer
He had been in the process of bringing some of the equipment inside the house when the thieves pounced. asserted
thieves → bring → house
She said they had been targeted by thieves before and that she wasn't going to sit back as a thief tried to take the tools, which she described as their 'livelihood'. asserted
she → say → livelihood
Ms Vine said: 'I got home from my friend's house at 10pm and had a bath before bed. asserted
I → say → bed
'I sat for a while in the lounge in my towel and that's when I saw a neighbour's security light go on. asserted
light → sit → towel
I saw on our CCTV monitor a motorbike drive past slowly with two people on it and then it came back. asserted
it → see → it
I thought it was odd. ' asserted
it → think → ?
One of them got off and walked down the road and I had a sixth sense what he was about to do. asserted
he → get → what
He tried that handle of the van and I got a little bit angry, that's our livelihood. asserted
that → try → van
I ran outside with the bat in just my towel. asserted
I → run → towel
'The guy saw me and ran away. asserted
guy → see → me
I threw the bat at him but it missed. asserted
it → throw → him
Then I heard the motorbike start up and stepped into the road to play chicken with it. asserted
motorbike → hear → it
I remember shouting "come on then". asserted
I → remember → ?
He drove towards me and I had to step out of the way. asserted
I → drive → way
I took a swing at him and I am pretty sure I hit the bike. asserted
I → take → bike
'When I got back in the house I realised I was physically shaking. asserted
I → get → house
I didn't really care about what would happen, you have just got to stand up for yourself. asserted
you → care → yourself
Ms Vine said they had been targeted by thieves before and that she wasn't going to sit back as a thief tried to take the tools, which she described as their 'livelihood' asserted
she → say → livelihood
'The support I have had from the neighbours has been incredible.' asserted
I → have → neighbours
Ms Vine later shared the CCTV footage on Facebook, with several people applauding her bravery and quick-thinking in the comments. asserted
people → share → comments
She wrote: 'So I strike again. asserted
I → write → ?
Two boys on moped, tried to break into dad's van. asserted
boys → try → van
'However I came with baseball bat in hand, in a towel (AGAIN) and hit the get away rider on the moped. asserted
I → come → moped
'Keep trying, I'll keep fighting! asserted
I → keep → ?
Police have been notified and evidence has been submitted. asserted
evidence → notify → ?
'Mess around and find out.' Daily Mail has contacted Dorset Police for comment. asserted
Mail → mess → comment
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