A woman grabbed an elderly woman's purse out from her hands as she made her way to visit her dying husband in hospital.
The 70-year-old victim was robbed shortly after her sister-in-law had driven her to Hull Royal Infirmary, according to Hull Live.
She was left traumatised by the incident and left to cope with it on her own, as she didn't want to stress her husband in his final days, Hull Crown Court heard.
The offender Hayley Simpson, 47, of Peel Street, Hull admitted to robbing an elderly lady on Monday, July 5, 2021.
The court heard how the victim's sister-in-law parked her vehicle on Bean Street, with the defendant walking past them as they crossed a junction around 1.17pm.
As they began to cross the road, the defendant began to stagger towards them and the victim felt a pull on her black clutch bag.
The women shouted out for help and two men, who caught onto what happened, chased Simpson, causing her to drop the bag and make her escape, the court heard.
The men brought the bag back to the lady and she realised that her glasses and mobile phone were missing.
Simpson was spotted on CCTV and the police were able to track her down and arrest her on Wednesday, July 7.
In her victim impact statement after the robbery, the elderly lady said: "At the time I felt very vulnerable, I was in tears I could not believe it had happened.
"It has upset me that my husband is in hospital seriously ill and this has happened. I had to put on a brave face because I did not want to cause my husband any more stress as he would be worried.
"I genuinely think she was waiting for vulnerable people and would do this again.
"I am scared of going back there, this was the only place I could park to get to the hospital and it is causing me more stress."
On Friday, September 17, a few days after her husband had passed, the victim provided another statement.
She said: "Since losing my husband and being the victim of a robbery, this has left me feeling very anxious. I am extremely wary of my surroundings and now living alone, I am scared at night.
"Doing everyday tasks has become more difficult. I find myself getting into floods of tears when I need to go shopping or come back home to an empty house.
"The date of sentencing is on my husband's birthday, it should have been a time of remembering him, not thinking of being a victim.
"My husband never knew of the robbery, I could not put them through any more stress whilst he was in the hospital. He was critically ill.
"He was the one I could always rely on or support, however, due to his illness I had to go through this alone and try to be strong for my husband."
When Simpson was interviewed by the police she laughed about the stolen property and said: "She got her bag back didn't she?" the prosecutor told the court.
Simpson has 14 previous convictions with 34 offences.
In mitigation, Stephen Robinson told the court the defendant's life was 'devilled by drug use' which has caused a downfall in her life. When the incident occurred she had fallen back into an addiction.
He added that she showed signs of poor mental health as well.
Judge David Tremberg said to Simpson: "You have a long-standing issue with drugs, which has ruined your life. When your habit gets out of control, your behaviour impacts severely badly on others.
"Unfortunately when you slide back into drug use, your mental health suffers, your lifestyle becomes chaotic and you re-offend.
"Your victim was going to the hospital to visit her husband who was gravely ill. You clearly marked her an easy target, you snatched her handbag and ran away thinking you could escape.
"You caused her substantial emotional distress in her life, especially after bereavement."
He sentenced her to 33 months in prison.
