A NELSON man who robbed an 88-year-old disabled woman outside a post office has been jailed for six years.

Nadeem Mohammed resorted to crime after going to collect state benefits - and discovering there was no money in his account.

He then hung around outside the post office and went on to snatch the elderly woman's handbag.

Preston Crown Court heard that he also handled contents stolen from an "elderly and vulnerable" person who had been very seriously injured in a separate crime.

The 28-year-old, of Railway Street, Nelson, had denied a charge of robbery on the 88-year-old but was convicted by a jury after trial.

That offence occurred in February this year.

The jury had earlier heard how a hooded Mohammed snatched the woman's pension as she made her way back from the post office.

Victim Irene Crowther, who walks with a stick, was almost knocked to the ground in the snow and was left shocked and upset after her handbag, £300 cash and her angina spray were stolen.

At yesterday's hearing, Mohammed also pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods taken in a similar robbery. Originally, the defendant had been charged with robbery, but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to handling.

The court was told that Mohammed had 20 previous offences on his record.

These included an 18-month youth custody term in 1997 for robbing a 54-year-old man in Nelson of just £4. That victim was threatened with a 12-inch knife and money demanded from him. Mohammed also had two convictions for burglary.

One had been carried out at the home of a wheelchair-user suffering from multiple sclerosis. The other victim was a retired woman. In each instance a handbag was stolen.

Charles Brown, defending, said low-level violence had been used in the robbery. In effect, it had been a handbag snatch, with excessive force.

The woman was not physically injured and the offence had been a spontaneous action.

But Judge Norman Wright passed a five-year sentence for the robbery, plus 12 months on top for the handling offence.

He said that after realising there was no money from the state in his post office account, Mohammed needed money and hung around outside.

"Here was easy pickings for you - an elderly, disabled lady," said the judge.