Drug addict left Leith OAP with broken hip as he snatched handbag in violent attack

A drug addict who left a frail pensioner with a broken hip as he robbed her of her handbag has been jailed.

Munro admitted the savage assault and robbery on the pensioner when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Daniel Munro pounced on the 82-year-old woman and dragged her to the ground during the violent attack in Leith, Edinburgh, earlier this year.

Munro, 34, grabbed the woman from behind and repeatedly pulled at the bag as she bravely tried to fight him off.

The drug addict then ran off with the bag and its contents leaving the OAP lying on the ground with a fractured hip.

Munro, of Dalry, Edinburgh, was subsequently identified after city police officers reviewed CCTV footage of the horrifying incident.

Munro admitted the savage assault and robbery on the pensioner when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Fiscal depute Alan Wickham told the court the elderly victim was making her way home when she was attacked by Munro at the city’s Hamburgh Place at around 4.25pm on February 8 this year.

Mr Wickham said the woman “was grabbed from behind and dragged to the ground” by Munro.

The pensioner valiantly attempted to keep hold of her belongings but her attacker managed to wrestle the bag from her grasp and ran off.

A witness ran to the injured woman’s aid and called the police and an ambulance.

The victim was rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where it was found she had suffered a fractured hip during the assault.

Solicitor Peter O’Neill, defending, said his client had “an ongoing drug problem” and had written a “very apologetic” letter to his victim.

The lawyer added he would reserve his full mitigation to the sentencing hearing.

Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC told Munro “bail is not appropriate due to the nature of the offence” and remanded him in custody.

Sentence was deferred to next month for the preparation of reports.

Munro pleaded guilty to assaulting the 82-year-old woman by seizing her handbag and struggling with her causing her to fall to the ground all to her severe injury and rob her of a handbag and its contents at Hamburgh Place, Edinburgh, on February 8 this year.

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