Pensioner on mobility scooter robbed at knifepoint
A man threatened a pensioner in Bury with a knife before cutting through the strap of her bag so he could steal it.
An elderley woman suffered an angina attack after a man threatened her with a knife and robbed her as she rode her mobility scooter through Bury.
At 10.20am on Monday May 9 2016, a 72-year-old woman was travelling down Richard Burch Street, Moorside, when the mobility scooter she was riding was pulled at from behind.
A man then grabbed the woman’s shoulder bag and attempted to wrestle it from the woman’s grasp before producing a three-inch knife and attempting to cut the strap from the woman’s chest.
The woman managed to hold on to the bag until the man used the knife a second time to cut the handle strap from her grasp before running off in the direction of the industrial estate on Kenyon Street.
The woman was left alone and suffered an angina attack with her medication in the bag that had been stolen. A passer-by stopped and rang the police. She was taken to Bury Hospital and before being discharged.
The man stole two purses and cash, police later found the handbag discarded in the bushes on Porritt Street.
The offender is described as a white man in his late 30s, clean shaven, 5ft 6in, medium build, black short back and sides hair, large dilated pupils wearing a dark zipped waist length jacket, red and white top and dark coloured trousers.
PC Phil Irish, of GMP’s Bury division, said: “This was a shocking attack on a vulnerable elderly woman who was going about her daily business.
“The woman’s medication was in the stolen bag when she suffered an angina attack and it is lucky that she is now safe and well but this could have been far more serious.
“Enquiries remain ongoing and we are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area at the time to come forward.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.