A drug addict who killed a church-going grandmother for only £15 in a violent street robbery has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Paul Halstead grabbed the bag of frail pensioner Jean Myers, 89, who lost her balance and fell in Quarry Road, Cleckheaton.

Mrs Myers, who was described as a “faithful and devout” Christian, hit her head and fractured her skull.

A hospital scan showed the fracture and bleeding into her brain and she later died in Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Halstead, 27, of Shirley Parade, Gomersal, admitted her manslaughter and two robberies.

Sentencing Halstead at Leeds Crown Court yesterday Mr Justice Foskett said his “moment of selfishness” was driven by drug addiction.

He told him: “The loss of a much-loved elderly parent in any circumstance is always felt keenly by the remaining family.

“To lose someone such as Mrs Myers, who was still fit, active, lively and in good health, in circumstances such as these must cause unimaginable grief and not inconsiderable anger.

“A telling observation in the victim impact statement of her daughter says that Mrs Myers would have been ‘devastated if she knew how her life ended’.

“Perhaps, fortunately, she did not, but that observation sums it all up.”

Mrs Myers, a widow, had been married for 65 years and was still leading an active life six years after the death of her husband, Eric.

She served in the Women's Auxiliary Airforce during the Second World War and was an active parishioner at her church, St Mary the Blessed Virgin in Gomersal, and a helper at St Mary’s school for many years.

The mother-of-one had also worked in the Co-op and manufacturers in Cleckheaton until her retirement.

The court was told that on the day she died, she had been to the White Rose Shopping Centre and only had about half a mile to walk home after getting off the bus at about 1.50pm, but had the misfortune to meet Halstead.

He took his victim’s handbag to a recreation ground where he helped himself to the £15 in notes and change he found inside before abandoning it.

He then ordered heroin from a dealer before committing a second robbery on a 22-year-old woman the same afternoon. He was stopped by an off-duty police officer and a member of the public who held him until he was arrested.