A THUG who robbed a widow under a Southampton railway bridge just nine days after being released from jail is back behind bars.

Carl Jennings targeted 86-year-old grandmother Nora Sait as she walked home from a shopping trip, knocking her to the ground and stealing her bag of groceries.

The pensioner, who walks with a stick, was left helpless on the ground until she managed to heave herself up and summon help.

Her spectacles shattered as she hit the pavement during the vicious attack in St Denys. She was left nursing a cut near her left eye, which needed four stitches.

Mrs Sait also had to remove her wedding and engagement rings for the first time since 1938 to receive treatment for her bruised fingers.

She told police: "This is the worst thing that has happened to me."

Jennings, 29, who escaped with just £20, had carried out the robbery just nine days after being released on licence from prison, where he had been serving four years for two similar attacks on women aged 80 and 69.

Southampton Crown Court was told how he had 25 previous convictions for offences of violence.

Judge Christopher Leigh QC said Jennings had an "appalling" record and ordered him to serve five years' imprisonment, adding the stretch would start only when he had completed the 400 days remaining from his previous sentence. Today Mrs Sait, now 87, said the jail term should have been longer.

Speaking from her St Denys home, she told the Daily Echo: "I was lucky but it could have been much worse.

"It is right he has been sent to prison for what he did, but I don't think it is long enough if he has done this sort of thing before."

Mrs Sait told police how she had been saddened when she had to remove her wedding and engagement rings for the first time.

She added: "I like to get out of my flat, except when it's very cold, but I always have to walk under the railway bridge where it happened.

"I used to walk there, day or night, but I won't do this at night any more. I'm not normally a nervous person, just average, but this is the worst thing that has happened to me."

Jennings, of Burke Drive, Thornhill, admitted robbery. The court was told how police had recovered Mrs Sait's bag and empty purse - which had contained just £20 - about 600 metres from the robbery scene in Priory Road last October.

Jennings was arrested after DNA tests were carried out on his discarded fleece top, which was discovered near a footbridge. He initially denied any involvement but tests confirmed the presence of both fibres from the bag and flakes of skin from the defendant.

Chris Stopa, in mitigation, said there had been significant change in his client's attitude since he had been on remand. He was addressing his drug problem.