A robber has been jailed for eight years for targeting an elderly woman for her £6,000 savings in her own home in Maidstone.

Richard Henry, 49, barged his way into the pensioner’s home, pushed her onto her settee and then stole her handbag containing the cash.

Henry knocked on the 90-year-old's door in February with another man.

As the pensioner, who was alone, opened the door at her home in Becksbourne Close, Penenden Heath, Henry pushed past her and made his way into her living room while another man stood at the doorstep.

The incident is said to have happened at about 3.30pm.

The sprightly pensioner began shouting at the pair to leave and hit Henry with her walking stick

Henry, a car dealer, then pushed the terrified pensioner onto her settee and entered her bedroom where her valuables were kept.

Henry of Chingley Close, Bromley, then opened her wardrobe where he found her handbag containing her bank cards, bank books, her passport and £6,000 in cash she had been saving up to give to her son so he could buy a new car.

He then fled the property and she was able to get up follow him to the door and watched him and the other man run off down the road before turning left.

She immediately called the police and broke down in tears and was still in a terrified distressed state when officers arrived minutes later.

Police launched an investigation and after checking CCTV footage from a home in nearby Sandling Lane, they identified two men running away from the scene and a car they believed to have been used during the robbery, a silver Renault Megane.

Number plate recognition cameras led officers to find out where the car had been driven and it was established it had been hired from a firm in London.

The car was captured by cameras in Maidstone and later in London and it was soon established it also had a tracking device fitted to it.

Officers were able to find out which route it took and that the car had also stopped near the victim's home for a period of time.

The car had stopped in a nearby road, The Hedges, about the same time the robbery occurred.

Officers also found the car had been driven to Beckenham and the victim's passport was later found in Southend Road, Beckenham, by a member of the public.

Police were also able to establish the Renault Megane had earlier on the day of the robbery, stopped at a Sainbury’s petrol station to refill with fuel.

The transaction was paid for via a debit card belonging to Mr Henry's mother, and police found her address, in Chingley Close, Bromley, and knocked on her door.

Her son answered it and he was arrested by detectives and during interviews made no comment.

He was later charged with robbery. He denied the allegation against him, but the jury reached a unanimous verdict of guilty.

Iestyn Morgan prosecuting, said: “She (the victim) showed courage and hit him with her walking stick and shouted to him to get out.

"He was bigger and younger than her and he merely pushed passed her into the bedroom.

"She was too scared to do anything else."

During the trial it was also agreed that Henry was the driver of the car which filled up in the petrol station earlier that day and that the victim initially identified him in a ID parade, but then changed her mind and picked out another man.

Mr Morgan also read out a transcript of the victim's interview with police.

In her statement she said: “I opened the door and I didn’t put the chain on they were both standing there.

“He pushed me back into the wall and went in the front room.

“He pushed back the curtain at the window and looked in the garden, he pushed me back again and went straight in the bedroom.

“I had hit him with my stick but he opened the door and went into the bedroom.

“I told him to get out but he took no notice, not a bit of it. I thought I would lock him in (the bedroom), but then thought I’d better not.

“He didn’t hurt me when he pushed me, but I was petrified.”

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC jailed Henry for eight years for the robbery offence and was given a four month concurrent sentence for a driving while disqualified offence, which he admitted before the trial.

Detective Constable Bob Fursey, the investigating officer in the case, said: "Henry targeted a very vulnerable woman and subjected her to a horrifying ordeal.

"Despite her frailty, he assaulted her inside her own home and robbed her of a significant amount of money.

"She was left shaken and extremely upset and it is fortunate that she was not seriously injured.

"Despite the fear she naturally felt, she had the courage to speak out against this man and provide us with vital information.

"I am grateful for the support she has given to this investigation."