A robber who knocked over a 92-year-old man in the entrance lobby of his central London flat has been jailed for 30 months.
Solomon Bygraves, 29, who was on bail at the time of the robbery, was told by a judge that his attack on Stanley Evans could have been fatal.
The robber followed Evans into the entrance hall of the block of flats after pretending that he was going to help him with his wheelie bag as he returned from a shopping trip, before lunging for a wallet which contained just £5.
In CCTV footage played at London’s Southwark crown court, he was shown running off as Evans, described in court as “a very small, frail man”, fell. He lay in the entrance to the flats in Soho, central London, for 10 minutes after the attack on 31 January.
The judge, Andrew Mitchell QC, said: “The victim in the case could easily have died, not through any other reason than just snatching something from him, and causing him therefore to fall down, and he could have just gone at that age.”
Bygraves, who has 21 convictions for 49 different offences including two for robbery, was out on bail for a domestic matter at the time of the attack.
Richard Sedgwick, prosecuting, said: “Mr Bygraves is an exceedingly large man. There appears to be some evidence of targeting – the age and the size difference point to that.”
The pensioner, a retired camera assistant who worked on films including the 1947 classic Brighton Rock, eventually managed to get to his feet and call 999. He suffered a shoulder and arm injury in the incident.
In a victim impact statement, Evans said: “I believe the public would be served for him to be in prison for a long time for his cowardly attack.”
He added: “I’m independently minded and determined not to allow this to change how I live or where or when I go out.”
In a letter to the judge, Bygraves admitted the attack was the “most horrible, horrific, shameful crime” he has committed.
