Two men who mugged an 82-year-old woman shortly after she withdrew £200 from a Bury St Edmunds post office have been given jail sentences totalling nearly 16 years.
Before Ipswich Crown Court were Robert Duke, 36, of Broad Road, Bacton, and Kyle Haggerty, 27, of no fixed address, who both denied robbing the woman of her handbag, cash, bankcard and personal items on June 27.
They were both unanimously found guilty by a jury after a week long trial and Haggerty was jailed for eight years and Duke was jailed for seven years and ten months.
Sentencing the men Judge Emma Peters described the robbery as "wicked, cruel, callous, greedy and nasty" and said they had been convicted on a "wealth of compelling evidence."
Judge Peters described them as "lower than cowards" and the "lowest of the low."
In a statement read to the court the victim said she was now too scared to leave her home as a result of the robbery and was still in pain from injuries she received in the incident.
The court has heard the victim was grabbed from behind and pushed to the ground during the robbery in Tennyson Road, Bury St Edmunds.
Gavin Pottinger, prosecuting, said the woman felt someone pulling the handle of her bag and she ended up with a cut on one of her fingers as a result of struggling to keep hold of it.
Mr Pottinger told the court that after their arrests the defendants each said the other had carried out the robbery.
He said that Duke had been in the post office queue behind the victim when she withdrew £200 and was seen to follow her along Tennyson Road.
Mr Pottinger said that Haggerty's DNA was found on a watch found at the scene of the robbery and he had pleaded guilty to using the victim's stolen bankcard 90 minutes after the robbery.
In a police interview after his arrest Robert Duke told officers that after visiting a post office in Lake Avenue in Bury St Edmunds he heard a woman shouting: "No. You're not taking that."
He said that shortly afterwards a man he knew as "Bos" ran past him with a T-shirt round his face.
"I thought he'd robbed her," said Duke.
The court heard that Haggerty told police he had sold a watch found at the scene of the robbery to Duke on the day of the robbery and blamed Duke for the mugging.
He said Duke had given him a bank card and he had unsuccessfully tried to get cash with it for him.
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