Cruel thief targeted woman, 82, on scooter

VICTIM LEFT TRAUMATISED AFTER HANDBAG RIPPED FROM HER LAP

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

A VILE robber targeted an elderly woman on a mobility scooter and followed her before ripping her handbag away. Dominic West, 29, watched his 82-year-old victim before grabbing her bag and stealing it with force as she struggled.

West said he'd lost his job and was 'struggling financially' at the time.

Before locking him up, a judge told West: "That may have been the case. But that is no justification for the vile attack on this vulnerable, elderly lady."

Manchester Crown Court heard that the woman, who is also partially sighted, had been making her way home following a visit to a crematorium to pay her respects to family members. She had boarded the Metrolink and alighted at Abraham Moss stop in Cheetham Hill when West spotted her just before 11pm on February 3.