Walsall pensioner relieved her mugger is behind bars
A pensioner who was sent crashing face-first to the ground when a thief snatched her handbag has spoken of her relief after he was jailed for the crime.
Drug addict Shane Brooks targeted 67-year-old Carol Aulton as she walked home after a visit to the newsagents, in Old Birchills, in Walsall.
She had been walking past the Rose & Crown pub, in Birchills, when he struck on January 30.
Mrs Aulton, a mother-of-one, said: "I think it's wonderful that he has been locked up because the local people round here felt unsafe after what happened to me.
"Apparently he said he wanted to apologise to me for his actions, but I would prefer if he apologised to his mother and family for putting them through all this.
"I think it was an opportunist robbery.
"I went to the paper shop and I was walking back home. I was passing the Rose & Crown when the next thing I knew I was on the ground.
"When I got up there were a lot of people running towards me. They were the customers in the pub who saw what happened and they came outside to help."
Mrs Aulton said a person chased after him, but failed to catch him.
She added: "I was in a right state.
"My mouth was bleeding and I was shaken up, but everyone was lovely and looked after me. The police came and took my statement and the man from the paper shop took me home afterwards.
"I have lived here for many years and nothing like this had ever happened to me until now. I am much more cautious now. I do find myself checking to see who's around me in the street and I cross over to the other side if there are any lads coming.
Brooks was jailed for robbery earlier this month for three years and seven months at Wolverhampton Crown Court after it was revealed he was on licence having received a suspended sentence for a separate theft matter in October last year.
CCTV footage shown in court showed Brooks, aged 25, crossing the road with another man before he grabbed the pensioner's handbag at about 4.50pm.
He was seen running off with the bag while Mrs Aulton, of nearby Bentley Lane, in Reedswood, lay motionless on the pavement.
Brooks, of no fixed abode, had 11 previous convictions for 17 offences.
