A DRUG addict who mugged an elderly woman while on bail for trafficking heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed for six years.

Carla Spilsbury robbed the 84-year-old of her £500 holiday money after following her from a post office and attacking her from behind.

The pensioner clung on to her bag while lying face down in the street until Spilsbury wrenched so hard that the handles broke, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Spilsbury then gave the stolen cash to her drug dealer to pay off a debt.

Yesterday, she was locked up for three years for robbery and three years, to run consecutively, for possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of £560 as criminal property. She pleaded guilty to all the offences.

The court heard that Spilsbury was caught street drug dealing in St Paul’s Road, Shipley, on August 31 last year.

She had seven wraps of Class A drugs in her hand and two more with her in the car. Her phone contained texts from her drug addict customers.

While on bail, she committed the robbery on the afternoon of May 10 after following her victim from Gaythorne Road Post Office in West Bowling, Bradford, on to nearby Round Street.

Spilsbury, 30, of Birch Lane, West Bowling, targeted the pensioner after seeing her withdrawing the money, it was alleged.

The elderly woman sensed she was being followed and crossed the road but Spilsbury went after her and attacked from behind.

Both women fell to the ground but Spilsbury got up first and dragged her victim’s bag from her while she was still helpless on the floor.

Spilsbury’s solicitor advocate, John Bottomley, said the robbery was an act of desperation to pay off a drug debt.

“She is extremely remorseful, deeply ashamed and embarrassed,” he said.

Spilsbury’s flatmate, caught drug-dealing with her, had since died, acting as a grim warning about the dangers of drugs misuse.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said the robbery was “a very nasty and unpleasant case”.

He ordered that the £560 seized from Spilsbury as criminal property would be given to her victim as compensation.