A brutal thug who attacked a frail 90-year-old woman in her own home as he stole her £6,000 savings has been jailed for eight years.
Richard Henry, 49, barged past the woman after knocking on the door of her home.
He then began to ransack the property while an accomplice stood guard on the doorstep.
When the frightened woman shouted at him to leave and hit him with her walking stick, Henry pushed the terrified pensioner onto her settee.
In a wardrobe he found her handbag containing her bank cards, bank books, her passport and £6,000 in cash she had been saving up to give to her son so he could buy a new car.
Henry grabbed the handbag, but when he found the woman was blocking his exit again pushed her to the ground a second time.
The helpless woman could only follow them to the door and watched as the violent thug and his accomplice drove off in a hire car.
She immediately called the police and broke down in tears and was still in a terrified distressed state when officers arrived minutes later at her home in Penenden Heath, Kent, in February this year.
But while officers were taking details from the woman they received reports her passport had been found in Beckenham.
Using CCTV and the tracking device fitted to the hire car, officers were able to track Henry’s movement’s from the theft to his home in Bromley where he was arrested.
Henry denied the allegations, but he had paid for petrol with his mother’s card before the robbery
Henry was unanimously convicted by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court.
Lestyn Morgan, prosecuting, told the jury: “She showed courage and hit him with her walking stick and shouted to him to get out.
“He was bigger and younger than her and he merely pushed passed her into the bedroom.
“She was too scared to do anything else.”
In her statement the pensioner said: “I opened the door and I didn’t put the chain on they were both standing there.
“He pushed me back into the wall and went in the front room.
“He pushed back the curtain at the window and looked in the garden, he pushed me back again and went straight in the bedroom.
“I had hit him with my stick but he opened the door and went into the bedroom.
“I told him to get out but he took no notice, not a bit of it. I thought I would lock him in (the bedroom), but then thought I’d better not.
“He didn’t hurt me when he pushed me, but I was petrified.”
Judge David Griffith-Jones QC jailed Henry for eight years for the robbery offence and he was also given a four month concurrent sentence for a driving while disqualified offence, which he admitted before the trial.
He was also banned from driving for five years to run when he is released from prison.
Detective Constable Bob Fursey, of Kent Police, said: “Henry targeted a very vulnerable woman and subjected her to a horrifying ordeal.
“Despite her frailty, he assaulted her inside her own home and robbed her of a significant amount of money.
“She was left shaken and extremely upset and it is fortunate that she was not seriously injured.
‘Despite the fear she naturally felt, she had the courage to speak out against this man and provide us with vital information.
“I am grateful for the support she has given to this investigation.”
