MELTHAM PENSIONER KILLED IN BAG SNATCH, MUGGER FACES LIFE
A THUG who killed a Meltham pensioner faces jail today.A judge will sentence mugger Ian Hemmings for the manslaughter of Mrs Connie Mitchell.
And he has already been warned he could get a life sentence.
The 46-year-old, from Bradford, had pleaded guilty to killing the 90-year-old widow who died after suffering head injuries in a handbag snatch.
Hemmings robbed the pensioner of her handbag during an attack in Coniston Road, Meltham, in February last year.
Mrs Mitchell, a retired dinner lady who lived in Derwent Road, Meltham, had been walking along Coniston Road when a blue Citroen AX pulled up alongside her and the driver grabbed her bag.
The pensioner banged her head as she was pulled over and died about three weeks later in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
Hemmings went on to admit a series of further offences, including two more handbag robberies involving women, which were committed in the Weston-Super-Mare area in April.
He also pleaded guilty to a common assault allegation and three house burglaries.
The Honorary Recorder of Bradford Judge Stephen Gullick was told that Hemmings wanted to be sentenced straight away.
But the judge decided the case should be adjourned until today so that he could be assessed by a court-appointed psychiatrist and the probation service.
The crime shocked the entire community of Meltham, where Mrs Mitchell was very well known.
Her, 50-year-old Margaret Berry, who lives in Beverley, said: "Mum was completely independent and was always an active member of her local community." "She lived in Meltham all her life and walked into the village a couple of times a week to do her shopping." The article continues below
