A judge has praised a 63-year-old woman for fending off a would-be bag snatcher he jailed for two years.

David McMenamin, who cut his throat and wrists with a razor when police arrested him, was lurking outside the Post Office in Kensington Road, Girlington, Bradford, waiting for a victim.

But his target, Jeannette Cumming-Smith, hung on to her bag, pushed him away and followed him so she could identify him to the police, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told McMenamin: “She is brave and to be commended. She is everything that you are not.”

McMenamin, 26, of Crescent Street, Todmorden, admitted attempted robbery on January 25. His solicitor advocate, Simon Hustler, said McMenamin was sorry.

The court heard he had abused drugs and alcohol and had been out picking up cigarette butts because he had run out of money.