Amateur photographer takes photo of two would-be muggers – while having a heart attack

The 69-year-old then crawled home after the incident

The robbers escaped on a motorbike (West Midlands Police)

An amateur photographer managed to take a photo of two would-be muggers on motorbikes after they attempted to steal his camera – while he was having a heart attack.

Two men on a motorbike with a false licence plate attempted to snatch the camera out of the unnamed 69-year-old man while he was taking photos of a flower bed in a park in Dudley, near Birmingham on Tuesday.

According to the West Midlands Police, the man had an existing heart condition and immediately went into cardiac arrest as a result of the shock of the attempted robbery.

Despite his condition he was able to take pictures of his assailants and crawl back to his home to raise the alarm.

The assailants were snapped by the unamed man despite him going into cardiac arrest because of the shock of the assault (West Midlands Police)

Detective Inspector Nigel Smith, said: "Even though the gentlemen fell to the floor as he suffered the heart attack, he still managed to take pictures of his assailants.

“He then managed to crawl back to his house to alert emergency services who took him to hospital.

"He is now facing potentially life-saving surgery."

The police say they are now looking for information about the identity of the two men who were also spotted stealing the motorbike in the nearby Merry Hill shopping centre just before 6pm on Saturday.

They have released CCTV pictures of the men along the images the man managed to take.

The pair were spotted stealing a motorbike from a local shopping centre a few days earlier (West Midlands Police)

DI Smith said: "I would like to hear from anyone who recognises the two in the images or anyone who has information which will lead us to them.

"We are continuing to trawl local CCTV to see if they have been captured elsewhere.

"A park is a place of leisure and Dudley residents should be able to enjoy them without fear of crime, so we need to find those responsible quickly."

Anyone with information should call Dudley CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Additional reporting by PA