DEFIANT pensioner Edith Drinkhill has vowed not to be beaten by yobs after being mugged while out walking.

And the brave 75-year-old wants a children's charity to benefit from the £5 sent her by a well- wisher.

The plucky pensioner was robbed of cash, cheque books and cards after an attacker pounced on the Rodwell Trail in Weymouth shortly after the 75-year-old widow collected her pension.

Edith, a retired clerical assistant from the Admiralty on Portland, was left shaken but unhurt and her plight touched the heart of one reader who anonymously handed £5 in to the Echo.

But Edith feels that, with Christmas coming on, the money should go to a children's charity.

She added: "I feel very angry. OK so I am old, but if he had come for me I would have punched him one, but he didn't. He was a coward. He just legged it and I couldn't go after him because I have arthritis in my feet.

"All this hasn't made me nervous. I think it has made me strong because what gives such people the right to do this sort of thing? Are they on drugs, what sort of society is this? They just want something for nothing."

Edith said she had no warning of her mugger who pulled her round in the attack. She then fell to the ground as he ran off. Her cries for help were answered by a resident in a nearby garden who looked after her.

She added: "It was lucky I was capable. It could have been some poor devil who could have been really injured."

PC Natasha Smart, who presented the £5 to Edith, said: "I think this was a cowardly crime, preying on the elderly and the vulnerable.

"Such incidents are not about money but the trauma and upset they cause, sometimes months or even years afterwards.

"Some people never recover but Mrs Drinkhill has been very strong."

Her attacker is described as being in his mid-20s with short, fair hair, about 5ft 10in and with a slim build. He was wearing an old-fashioned beige raincoat and he may have been seen earlier under Buxton Road rail bridge where he was also wearing a hat.

Anyone with any information should call (01305) 220512 or confidentially on Crimestoppers using (0800) 555 111.