A TINY, elderly woman has died four weeks after being viciously mugged in Wanstead.

Irene Hicks, 77, of Snaresbrook Road, Wanstead, suffered a cut eye and broken shoulder during the attack, outside the Evergreen doctors surgery in the High Street on Monday, September 18.

Mrs Hicks, who was just 4ft tall, was admitted to Whipps Cross University Hospital, after collapsing at her home days after the mugging, and tragically died there from a blood clot, last Wednesday, October 18.

Redbridge Borough Commander Dave Grant expressed his revulsion at the violence of the assault, and made an urgent call for witnesses to come forward.

He said: "This was a sickening attack on an elderly and vulnerable woman.

"I am absolutely appalled by what happened to her and we have mounted a large operation to try and find the person responsible.

"The coroner found that the injuries she sustained didn't contribute directly to her death, but I have no doubt at all she suffered as a result of them in the days before she passed away."

Mrs Hicks had been yards from the surgery entrance when a man shoved her to the ground from behind and snatched her bag, before escaping towards Wanstead Underground Station with just £10.

Devastated family friend Bruce Snooks, who visited Mrs Hicks in hospital the day before she died, called for more to be done to deter criminals from attacking elderly people.