GAZETTE & HERALD: A 93-year-old disabled widow has told how she sat helpless and terrified as she watched a burglar rifle through her belongings, looking for cash and valuables.

It was the fourth time the woman, who suffers from crumbling bones and arthritis, had become a victim of thieves and the most frightening.

"I kept thinking about what he could do to do me, so I watched as he went through the drawers and the cupboards," she said.

The man broke into her home in the Redlands area of Chippenham on the afternoon of March 13.

"I was sitting in my armchair and he just tapped me on the shoulder," she said. "I was flabbergasted.

"He had been inside my bedroom and I didn't even know it. I just sat there terrified."

The raider, who was dressed in dark clothing and thick woolly gloves, shielded his face throughout.

"He had already been through my bag in the bedroom and then he started going through my sideboard," said the victim. "I asked what he was doing and he said he was 'checking things for all the elderly people in the area'.

"I asked him about some money he had in his hand and he said it was his, but I knew it was mine."

She added: "I realised then that I was locked in with him."

After searching the house, the thief told the victim that he was going outside but would be back. When he didn't return, the shocked woman called the police and officers came to her aid.

They believe the burglar squeezed through a small bathroom window.

"There were bottles all over the bathroom floor and the curtains were hanging down where he had got in," said the victim. "He got away with about £100."

It is not the first time the pensioner has been burgled. Soon after she moved into her home in 1985, a thief broke in while she was out and fled with a number of items that had been given to her by her late husband, which were of huge sentimental value to her.

"Then a couple of years later a man called saying he was from the water board," she said. "He came in and said he wanted to boil some water, but he wasn't who he said he was.

"Luckily he didn't take anything.

"The time before this, I woke up one night in the living room to find my handbag had been taken someone had got in while I was asleep but I hadn't even known.

"But this was the worst having a stranger tap me on the shoulder and then having to watch as he went through my things.

"When I think about it now, I'm very frightened by what happened and what could have happened. You hear about people who are attacked. I was trembly and felt ill for days afterwards."

The woman described the intruder as between 18 and 30, about 5ft 3in tall, dressed in dark clothes including an anorak that he used to shield his face.

"He had a very smart, tidy haircut and spoke with an accent that sounded like it was Irish," she said.

"I just know that I must have had a guardian angel with me that day. When I think about what could have happened to me it scares me to death."

Chippenham police sergeant Dave Stephenson said: "It is very disturbing when people target the elderly I don't know how they live with themselves."

"She was aware from the start something was wrong and her house was very secure but she was not in a position to do anything about it. She deserves praise for the way she handled it."

Anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Redlands area at 3pm on March 13 is asked to contact Chippenham police on (01249) 654455.