A ROBBER is today starting a four-year jail spell after a "despicable" daylight attack on an 80-year-old woman.

Defenceless Dorothy Healeas was taking a flask of tea to her husband, who was working on Malton allotments, when a mugger struck.

Heroin addict Scott Beahan wrenched a handbag from the pensioner, who needs a walking stick to get around.

Moments later Beahan, of Dickens Road, Malton, tossed the bag from a car because it contained no cash.

Beahan was yesterday jailed for three years and 11 months at York Crown Court for the robbery. Police today welcomed the sentence.

Judge Paul Hoffman told the 28-year-old, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing: "You deliberately robbed an obviously vulnerable elderly woman walking with a stick. It was a despicable act.

"You did so in such a way as to injure her and you did this because you had turned yourself into an addict."

In a court statement, Mrs Healeas said her ordeal was "frightening".

"It's hard to believe these things happen in Malton," she said.

Her attacker pounced at 4pm on August 25 as she walked along Outgang Lane.

David Garnett, prosecuting, said Beahan pulled hard on the pensioner's bag, badly bruising her arm and wrist.

The robber fled to a waiting car but was spotted by apasser-by.

He grabbed Beahan through the car window - injuring his wrist when the vehicle left. However, he got some registration details and knew where the attacker lived.

Beahan was arrested 30 minutes later by police, who spotted his car.

Anne Munday, mitigating, said Beahan had worked to fund his heroin habit. The Malton attack, she said, was a "spur of the moment" act.

Beahan was shamed by the robbery. He was returning to the scene in a bid to return the bag when he was caught.

Speaking from her Malton home after the verdict, Mrs Healeas told the Evening Press she was still too upset to talk about the incident.

Expressing surprise at the long sentence, she said: "We just want to put all this behind us now."

Updated: 11:04 Thursday, October 30, 2003