Mugging victim's daughter takes up fight

London: The daughter of an 81-year-old widow who died after being mugged for her handbag Wednesday issued an emotional plea for help to catch her killer.

Retired architect Molly Morgan died after she was knocked over in the street in Harrow by a robber who snatched her shoulder bag.

She suffered a broken arm and head injuries, but passers-by ignored her pleas for help believing she was drunk.

Morgan was able to give police some details of her attack but did not see her assailant. She died later in hospital, unable to recover from a blood clot in her brain.

On Thursday her daughter Hilary Underwood urged anyone who witnessed the robbery to come forward. She described her mother as "fit and active and full of life" with years of her life ahead of her. Underwood, a professional artist, said: "I still can't believe she has been taken away from me by a coward of a mugger. I was her only daughter and we were very close. We talked every day.

"I have lost my mum in a terrible way. The person responsible is still out there and could do the same again to someone else's mum or gran.

"I know there were a number of people in the area who may have seen my mum on the pavement. I understand they may have been mistaken about why she was there and unaware of her serious injuries. If you were there and saw something please could you come forward and tell the police."

Morgan was on her way to help at a historical lecture at Kenton Library when she was attacked in Streatfield Road, at around 7.40pm on Thursday last week.

The pensioner was able to tell police that a man walked right past her, even though she asked him for help. She lay on the ground for 10 minutes until two women who had initially crossed the road to avoid her heard her cries and came to her aid.

The man who walked past is described as white, in his late twenties, wearing a black woolly hat and long black coat.