A woman who robbed a 90-year-old cancer survivor, slapped and racially abused a store security guard, and brawled with shop staff has been jailed.

Drug addict Pamela Jardine committed a total of 11 offences in a two-day drink-and-drug-fuelled crime spree in Chatham town centre and a mini-mart in Gillingham.

A court heard it was on April 12 this year that the mum-of-one "cynically" targeted the frail and vulnerable pensioner, appearing to initially flirt with him as he was walking with the aid of a stick out of The Pentagon.

Having first tugged at his coat sleeve with enough force to knock him off balance, she then tried to grip his hand and pull at his clothing while repeatedly walking in front of him.

Her victim tried to break free from her grasp, leaving Jardine to eventually walk off and head to a nearby taxi rank.

But when the OAP reappeared, she continued to pester him and, as he sat on steps, she stood over him and pushed him down and backwards.

Prosecutor Mark Savage told Maidstone Crown Court that as she began to rifle through his coat pocket, the pensioner pushed her away.

But this only led to Jardine taking a step backwards before shoving her victim for a second time, reaching inside his coat pocket and pinching his £400 iPhone.

A member of the public who witnessed the walking stick "go flying in the air", and the pensioner being pushed, went to his aid and noticed his head and face were bleeding.

Mr Savage said although these wounds had arisen from previous cancer treatment, they had reopened during the scuffle. The victim was also left distressed.

Jardine fled but was arrested outside Buzz Bingo - formerly Gala Bingo - in the High Street.

"She was uncooperative, shouting and swearing, intoxicated, unsteady and slurring," said Mr Savage.

It was at this point that the 41-year-old tried to swallow four wraps of crack cocaine she had pulled out of her bra, where she had also stashed a small bag of cannabis.

Just minutes before robbing the nonagenarian, Jardine had been stopped by a security guard as she headed out of Boots with her arms full of cosmetics.

Swearing and refusing to pay as she tried to pick up some of her dropped loot, she then suddenly slapped the staff member in the face, telling him "F***ing immigrants" before fleeing.

It was then that she "intercepted" her elderly victim, said the prosecutor.

The court also heard that following her arrest she falsely accused the man of having sexually assaulted her - a suggestion dismissed by a judge as "preposterous and deeply offensive" and one which "put paid to any notion" she was remorseful.

Nine months earlier, Jardine, formerly of Luton Road, Chatham, but homeless at the time, became embroiled in serious public disorder which arose from her stealing a packet of Dairy Lea Dunkers from the Best One convenience store in Gillingham.

Jardine, who has 15 previous convictions for 35 offences, had gone to the shop in Richmond Road at about 7.25pm on July 1 last year where, having thieved the snack, was confronted by staff in the street.

Her reaction was to punch one worker in the face and then pick up a metal display rack, smashing it against the door and cracking the glass pane. More glass was damaged when she kicked the door.

Jardine, who was described as being covered in blood, then unleashed her anger on a customer - an off-duty prison officer - by striking him in the face with her hand.

A passer-by, who had come to the aid of her intoxicated male friend after he had somehow ended up on the ground unconscious, also felt her wrath when she shoved him.

Having finally been arrested and taken to Medway Maritime Hospital, the foul-mouthed mum resorted to abusing "everyone" in her drunken state, said the prosecutor.

She was "screaming and wailing", hurling obscenities and homophobic slurs in front of members of the public, including children, and staff were said to have even "retreated" to an office out of fear.

Jardine then began to bang her head against a wall and, when a female officer tried to restrain her for her own safety, she kicked the constable in the knee, leaving it red and swollen.

She later admitted a catalogue of crimes comprising robbery, shoplifting, racially aggravated assault, possessing class A and class B drugs, criminal damage, common assault, battery and assaulting an emergency worker.

At the time, she was subject to an eight-month jail term suspended for 18 months for offences of battery, assaulting emergency workers and breach of a restraining order.

But when her lawyer spoke in her defence, the court was painted a different picture of the incident at Best One.

Stacey-Lee Holland told how one of the staff members was holding a stick and another a pole, and that Jardine had not been the aggressor.

It was also asserted that an explanation for her behaviour that day was that her drink had been spiked.

However, Ms Holland said that having led a "chaotic and homeless" lifestyle, alcohol and illicit substances including cannabis, cocaine and heroin had been her client's "coping mechanisms" in the past.

The court also heard that having been diagnosed with PTSD and emotionally unstable personality disorder, a previously unmedicated Jardine had now engaged with the community mental health team while in custody.

Further efforts to turn her life around, said her lawyer, had included her now being drug-free, completing numerous educational and employment courses, and achieving enhanced status.

During a previous hearing, Judge Robert Lazarus had struggled to recognise the woman in CCTV images from the one in front of him in the dock, and was told that she had weighed just six stone at the time due to her addiction.

But despite her physical and mental progress since, he told Jardine when she returned to court on Wednesday, November 20 for sentencing that her conduct had at times been "unhinged", was escalating in seriousness, and she had sought to blame others, notably those professionals "trying to help" her.

Furthermore, he said the mini-mart staff had done nothing more than use reasonable force to defend themselves after she had lashed out with the first blow and then become "actively involved" in serious public disorder.

Jardine, who appeared via remote link with HMP Bronzefield in Middlesex, also had to be muted when she began to argue with the judge about her encounter with the pensioner.

She was jailed for a total of three years.

Judge Lazarus had not been the only one to have been taken aback by her improved physical appearance several months on from her arrest and remand.

At a previous hearing in September, a man proclaiming to be Jardine's boyfriend flouted court rules of contempt by taking a photo of her on his phone as she sat in the dock, before declaring to the shocked judge, barristers and court staff: “I just took a picture of my girlfriend. I haven't seen her for a while.”

He then brazenly called across the courtroom to Jardine, telling her: “It's just that you look so well!”

The photo was subsequently deleted and an apology offered.