A TERRIFIED 71-year-old was attacked and robbed as she left church after lighting a candle for her sick daughter.

A thug waited for his victim to leave St. Joseph's RC Church, off Audley Range, Blackburn, before pouncing on her yesterday.

She was violently pushed face-first into the floor and her handbag, containing £15, was yanked away.

As well as the black eyes, the bang to her face knocked out and snapped her upper dentures and left her with several cuts and bruises.

Today the grandmother, who is too terrified to reveal her name but was willing to have her photograph taken, spoke of her shock at the attack and how she tried to shout for help.

The devout Roman Catholic, from the Audley area, had just been lighting two candles and praying for her poorly daughter, who is about to have an operation to remove a large fibroid -- a benign tumour of the uterus.

The victim said: "It happened so quickly. I never heard anything. Not even footsteps. Someone pushed me from behind and my face fell into the floor. I was trying to get up and turn around and I saw him running away.

"I tried to shout: 'my bag' but there wasn't a soul about. I thought I would never catch him. He was running down to Audley Range. My mouth was bleeding and I thought I'd better go back.

"I could have done without this. I am upset about it. You just don't expect it to happen at that time of day. It does affect you going out and makes you nervous, but I am going to try not to let it affect me too much.

"Nine out of 10 times my husband and I are together. We went to the church at 9am but it was shut, so I went back on my own afterwards. If it had been open this wouldn't have happened."

The woman's family of three sons, one daughter and six grandchildren are furious that someone could carry out such a cowardly robbery on a woman of her age.

The grandma left the church at 9.15am to go and meet her husband of 44 years.

He was just a short walk up the alleyway at the home of a 94-year-old friend who the couple go shopping for every Wednesday.

The victim refused to go to hospital. Instead, the couple went to look for the handbag.

A dentist has promised to repair her dentures for her after hearing what happened. The grandma was today recovering at home and thinking about her daughter, whose operation was scheduled to take place.

The couple would like to single out Det Con Steve Russell for praise after the care he showed them following the incident.