A 77-year-old woman needed seven stitches in a head wound after being robbed on Bretch Hill.

Barbara Landamore was walking along Edmunds Road at about 3pm last Thursday when a mugger snatched her handbag knocking her to the ground.

Speaking this week, after being released from hospital, she said her attacker "had no conscience". She added: "I was walking home from my daughter's house in Mold Crescent and the next thing I remember is waking up in hospital."

Her handbag was in a zipped carrying bag, which was later found in an alleyway between Margaret Close and Woodgreen Avenue. But a purse, cards, keys, and treasured photographs of her late husband were missing.

Mrs Landamore, who moved to Banbury in 1988, said she had always felt safe in the town.

She said: "I never had any problems, but youths today need money for drugs and they don't care how they get it."

Det Con Wendy Percival said: "Although there was no force used by the thief, the shock of the incident caused her to fall. This could obviously have been much more serious."

Witnesses should call 08458 505505.