MAUREEN MUGGED FOR HER DEAD HUBBY’S CRUCIFIX
Callous robber battered her unconscious
A THUG battered a frail widow and stole her late husband’s crucifix from her neck.
Maureen Dixon, 62, was left
unconscious on the pavement after the attack. Maureen was set upon as she walked home and woke up in hospital to find a pair of gold chains were missing.
The 62-year-old – known to pals as Mo – has worn the jewellery since husband Bob died in 2012 after battling illness.
And Mo – whose only child Keith died 18 years ago, aged just 25 – has been left devastated by the theft.
She suffered a fractured eye socket and needed more than a dozen stitches to a gaping wound on her cheek.
Detectives interviewed Mo on Wednesday in a bid to identify the callous robber. But she has no memory of the brutal attack and fears her precious keepsakes will never be recovered.
Mo had gone out on Saturday with a friend to Broadfields Bar, just a short walk from her home in Piershill, Edinburgh.
She said: “I don’t get to go out very much. We were chatting away and listening to people singing karaoke and I think it was about midnight when I left.
“It’s only a five-minute walk home so I thought it would be fine. The next thing I can remember was waking up in the hospital. I was shocked and all sore.”
Mo was found on Northfield Broadway – the same street as the pub – and rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
She added: “When I left someone must have punched me in the face. The doctors said I had no lacerations on my legs so it didn’t looked like I tripped. I had the gold chains on and you had to take the clips off to remove them. It was a gold choker and another one with a crucifix.
“You couldn’t pull them off, you would have to unclasp them.”
Bob was a demolition worker until he took ill. The couple – who were childhod sweethearts – were married for more than 40 years before Bob died on Christmas Eve 2012. Their son Keith died suddenly from heart failure.
Mo – who was a bookkeeper before retiring – suffers from a range of health problems, including a stomach illness. She said: “I started wearing the chains when Bob died to remember him. I never took them off.”
She is looked after by her next door neighbour and friend Justine, who is also her career.
A close family friend said: “Mo is a lovely, sweet lady who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“She’s well-known in the community as she’s been here for so many years. Everyone is disgusted that this could happen to her. “Mo and Bob were inseparable and she misses him so much. Only an evil scumbag would steal jewellery from the neck of a frail old lady. We’re just praying she gets them back.”
A Victim Support Scotland spokesman added: “This lady has been subjected to a despicable crime.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Police in Edinburgh are investigating following an incident on Northfield Broadway involving a 62- year- old woman at the weekend.”
The next thing I can remember is waking up in the hospital. I was all sore MO DICKSON