A knife-wielding robber who attacked a retired schoolteacher as she walked to her allotment on a Sunday morning has been jailed for six years.

Plucky Margaret Appleyard tried to cling on to her bag when Nigel Cochrane snatched it from her but was forced to let go after she was dragged eight feet along the pavement. The 69-year-old former teacher suffered cuts and bruises and was badly shaken but is managing to put her ordeal behind her.

Police today said the prison sentence should serve as a warning to violent muggers who pick on vulnerable members of society.

Detective Inspector Noel Devine, of Bradford North CID, said: "The sentence reflects the serious nature of the offence and should act as a warning to those who engage in this type of nasty, cowardly attack. She was very brave. She did not want to let go of her bag.

"There is no excuse for this type of horrific attack.

"Hopefully, she will now be able to bring closure to the incident and get on with her life with the knowledge that the person responsible is safely behind bars."

Bradford Crown Court heard how Cochrane, 31, was holding a knife when he snatched the bag from Mrs Appleyard. He denied having anything to do with the robbery and claimed to be in bed at the time of the mugging on Easter Sunday.

But a jury yesterday found him guilty of robbery after hearing how Mrs Appleyard picked him out on a video identification parade.

The court heard she was on her own as she walked down Moorside Road in Eccleshill just after 8am. The pensioner told the court she heard footsteps behind her and thought it was a jogger.

"I smiled at him and he smiled at me and I turned around and carried on walking," she said. "He ran past and then stopped. With his left hand he grabbed the strap of my bag and was stabbing the air just by my head with his right hand and then he swore at me."

Prosecutor Emma Downing said that he was using a knife and making jabbing motions around her body. Mrs Appleyard was desperately trying to hold on to the bag, but fell to the floor. She eventually gave in after she was dragged along the pavement.

Cochrane, who was jailed for five years in 1997 for drug dealing, was arrested five days later. During the trial he said he had been asleep at the house he was staying at in Fletton Terrace, Undercliffe. He admitted he was a heroin user but denied he was desperate for money to buy drugs.

Passing sentence, the Recorder of Bradford Judge Stephen Gullick told him: "Those who walk the streets of Bradford in daylight or at night are entitled to expect the protection of the courts from those who will take from them with force their property which is what you did."