Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Thug’s attack on widow, 88
A WIDOW aged 88 brutally assaulted by a masked intruder told a court she is lucky to be alive.
Evelyn Birchall was woken by serial robber Andrew Hodgkinson, 36, who rained blows on her as she tried to fight back.
He growled: “I want you”, but fled her bungalow in Chorley, Lancs, with jewellery. At Preston crown court he was jailed for six years and eight months.
A detective said he had never seen such “gratuitous violence” in 27 years. Mrs Birchell said: “I’m lucky to survive the attack.”