POLICE are hunting a boy and a girl who are targeting elderly people and who mugged a frail 81-year-old woman in her own home.

Mrs Dorothy Goffe, who lives in Vigo Road, Andover, was dozing off in her chair at about 12.30pm when she became aware of a youth standing in the doorway of her lounge.

The youth told her that her dogs were outside, but Mrs Goffe saw both dogs were still in the room.

"I said 'who the bloody hell are you'," she explained. "I got up from my chair but he pushed me to the ground, stepped over me and stole my handbag."

She was badly shaken by the attack and suffered a badly bruised hand as she fell. The youth and girl ran off with the bag, which contained £50.

Mrs Goffe was unable to get up and had to wait on the floor for several minutes until her daughter, Mrs Rita Carter returned.

Mrs Carter had just popped out and had shut the back door but left it unlocked. The following day Mrs Goffe was still visibly shaken, breaking down in tears as she recalled her ordeal, but she remained defiant.

"I feel angry, I could strangle them," she said. "I think they need a bloody good belting with a leather belt - something they won't forget."

Mrs Carter, who lives with her mother, raised the alarm at the warden-controlled bungalow and the warden alerted the police and ambulance.

Pc Ted Reynolds said during house-to-house inquiries officers discovered an 80-year-old man living immediately opposite in Vigo Road had also been targeted a short time earlier.

The pair said they were looking for their injured cat and he allowed them into his back garden, but afterwards he found his wallet had been stolen from his back pocket.

Later the same pair were seen running away after getting into a 73-year-old woman's bungalow in Hurstbourne Tarrant via the bathroom window. They took a handbag containing her Post Office book and a few pence.

The youth is described as white, aged 12 to 16, with short dark brown hair and wearing a jumper.

His female partner is also white with long blond hair. She was wearing a beige fleece with a hood. They both had a distinctive but unidentified accent, which was not local but not foreign either.

The police are appealing for anyone who saw the two in either Vigo Road, Andover, or Hurstbourne Tarrant or anyone else or who has any information about them to contact them. Pc Ted Reynolds also warned residents, especially the elderly, to make sure their doors and windows were firmly shut and locked.

He also advised them to check identities of any strangers calling and not to let them in if they are at all suspicious.