A PENSIONER, who spent the night unconscious outside her home after a vicious robbery, is still in hospital recovering from her ordeal.

Miss Edith Heaton was found 18 hours after an attack by a baby-faced thug in the Chesham area of Bury.

Police say Miss Heaton (90) could have died of hypothermia had the incident happened in colder weather.

She was robbed of £1,000 on Saturday afternoon. Her attacker could have been as young as 12.

Detectives investigating the attack are continuing their urgent appeal for help in tracing the attacker.

Miss Heaton's assailant entered the back yard of her home at 4.30pm, claiming to be looking for a football.

Ten minutes later, he confronted the pensioner in her kitchen and demanded cash. Earlier this week Mrs Heaton, speaking from her bed at Bury General Hospital, told the Bury Times about her ordeal.

She said: "I saw the boy in the yard and he claimed he was looking for a ball.

"I went back to the kitchen and was confronted by the same youth who demanded I give him money.

"I was saving up to pay for repairs to my home and I refused. He then shoved me into a wall and a table fell on me."

The thief searched the drawers before taking a pension book, a bank book and money from two wallets.

Miss Heaton crawled into the yard but her cries for help went unheard. She was spotted by a worried neighbour on Sunday morning.

Detective Constable Wade Harreld said: "If the weather had been different we could have been dealing with a murder."

The attacker was described as white with black hair. He wore a red top and Miss Heaton said his eyes appeared closed "to slits".

Anyone who can help should contact Bury CID on (0161) 856 8140 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.