A WOMAN who attacked a vulnerable elderly neighbour in her own home has been jailed.

Barbara Mullen has begun a seven-year sentence after a judge labelled her crime “despicable”.

She had denied robbing her 80-year-old victim, a dementia sufferer, but was found unanimously guilty by jurors following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court last month.

Before sentencing the 47-year-old, Judge John Harrow heard that the victim – who lives alone – had suffered a bite mark and abrasions to her hands, as well as bruising to her head.

“The victim was targeted on the basis of her vulnerability,” James Newton-Price, prosecuting, told the court.

Leslie William Smith, mitigating, said Mullen had been in a series of abusive relationships.

“She became addicted to heroin at the age of 31,” he said.

“However, she tells me she has been clean for the last 18 months.”

The barrister added that his mitigation had been “hampered” by the fact that Mullen, of Curzon Road in Bournemouth, continues to deny involvement.

He added: “She says it wasn’t her and she had nothing to do with it.”

But Judge Harrow said the defendant had decided to rob the victim because of her “frailty and vulnerability”.

“You went to her house and demanded money,” he said.

“You grabbed her hair and pulled a lump out and you gouged her hand.”

He said the victim had been left deeply distressed and confused by the “despicable, cowardly” offence.

“In my view you targeted her,” he said.