A PENSIONER is lying in hospital with cracked ribs, bruising and skinned arms and legs after an "horrific" attack by a robber who broke into her home.

The man threatened to kill the widow before dragging her around her house and demanding to know where she kept her money.

Dorothy Rumble, 76, opened her door to a man on Sunday because she was expecting a visit from her family.

The caller said he was from Circle 33 housing association and asked his victim if she needed any work carried out in her house or garden.

But Mrs Rumble's house is privately owned and she said her family dealt with repairs. The man grabbed her wrist and pushed her into the hall, closing the door behind him.

"I bit his ear and he called me a cow," Mrs Rumble told the Guardian.

"He pushed me on to the floor and dragged me into the front room. He pushed his knee down on my ribs and my lungs.

"Then he put his other foot in between my skirt and started to lift it up. I was terrified. I thought I was going to be raped in my front room."

In desperation, Mrs Rumble kneed her attacker, catching him on his leg. He shouted and cursed, pulled her up by the arms and dragged her into the living room, scraping the thin skin off her legs and arm.

He twisted her arms and flung her across the room.

The man saw Mrs Rumble trying to press her Help the Aged alarm around her neck, and went to pull it off her. Then he saw her bag, grabbed it and ran.

The robber got away with £650 in cash, Mrs Rumble's Post Office card and PIN, medication and building society books.

The attack has affected the whole family.

Mrs Rumble has at her home in Walthamstow for 53 years, the last 33 as a widow, and has raised six children there.

Her daughter Jean Ashwell said: "My mum has been changed from a strong feisty fighting lady to a frail old lady overnight. We can't understand how anyone could do this."

Daughter Tracey Flight said that her children, aged, 13, ten and two, had been too scared to sleep.

"There have been lots and lots of tears. They don't understand why this man hasn't been caught and put away."

Det Cons Nick Oskiewicz, said: "This is an horrific offence committed on a vulnerable and fragile lady. It is disgusting."

Mrs Rumble's ribs are cracked, and lung, bowels and spleen are all internally bruised. She suffers from asthma and is finding it painful and hard to breathe. She has also lost all the skin from her legs and one forearm.