A 97-year-old woman left battered and bruised by a vicious teenage mugger forgave him yesterday - and revealed he had saved her life.

Steven Lindsay, 17, knocked Eva Huddart to the ground and dragged her along the pavement as she clung to her handbag.

She was left with cuts and abrasions to her face, arms and body and doctors feared the shock of the attack could kill her.

But as she was being treated for her injuries a much greater threat was discovered - a blod clot in her leg.

It is likely the condition would have proved fatal if it had gone untreated.

As Lindsay began a four year sentence for the robbery, Mrs Huddart said: "I forgive him for what he did and in a way I am thankful.

"They told me I could have lost my leg or even died. So really, he probably saved my life.

"I was taken to hospital and the doctors were treating an injury to my toe that I got when he knocked me down.

"They noticed a bit of discolouration beneath it. I had noticed it but I didn't know what it was.

"When the doctors saw it they said they were going to operate straight away. If he hadn't knocked me down we wouldn't ever have known about it until it was too late."

Mrs Huddart was waiting at a bus stop in Walkerville, Newcastle, on November 3 last year, when Lindsay grabbed her handbag.

The former medical secretary spent five days in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary recovering from the operation and the attack.

But she said at her home in Wallsend, North Tyneside, yesterday that she was almost back to full fitness.

She even said she wished Lindsay had been spared the four year prison sentence.

She said: "I do forgive him and in all honesty I feel a bit sorry for him.

"The police told me his mother died when he was just a youing boy of 11 and it sounds as though he's had a hard time of it.

"If they had asked me, I would have told them to just leave him be, but maybe it will do him good.

"Hopefully he will get on all right in prison and even learn some new skills that will help him in the future."

She recalled the incident last year that turned her world upside down.

Mrs Huddart said: "I'd got up in the morning and it was lovely weather. I couldn't make up my mind whether to do the gardening or go shopping first, but I thought I would get the shopping over and done with.

"I was planning on getting some groceries and getting my hair cut so there was about 300 in my purse.

"I was standing at the bust stop and he came along and grabbed at me.

"I wasn't going to just give my bag up and just held on but he kept on dragging and eventually knocked me over.

"The daft thing is that if he had asked I would have just given him a pound or two.

"I still go out and look after myself - that's the way I've been brought up."

After the attack Lindsay asked a police officer to apologise to her on his behalf.

After Lindsay was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court, Detective Constable Ian Beecroft said: "This type of crime involving such an elderly victim is extremely rare but it must have been a frightening experience for this lady to endure.

"We are pleased with the sentence given in court.

"It means that a dangerous individual has been removed from our streets and the public can feel safer as a result."