TEENAGER Daniel Lane has been sent to jail for six years after launching a sickening attack on a wheelchair-bound pensioner.

The 19-year-old tried to rob retired school teacher Richard Besley while he was out on his electric wheelchair in West Swindon.

Lane, 6ft tall, knocked the severely disabled pensioner out of his wheelchair and left him sobbing on the ground after he refused to give the young thug money.

Paul Cook, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Mr Besley lived in sheltered accommodation for the elderly, having suffered a stroke 11 years ago, and was registered disabled.

He said the victim's powers of communication were limited to just being able to say 'yes' and 'no' and he was paralysed down the right hand side of the body.

The pensioner was out on his battery-powered wheelchair on October 29 last year and when he returned it was clear that he had been involved in some sort of incident.

"When he returned he had a wound about the size of 10 pence piece on the side of his head and his wheelchair was scuffed," he told the court.

"Because of his limited powers of communication his son was called by wardens, and he paid a visit and noticed his father was upset and agitated.

"He took his father out to try and establish what happened and where and when they got to Cartwright Drive it became apparent that his father was upset."

The following day he said a 13-year-old boy who was friends with Lane phoned police to say that he had seen the defendant rob the old man.

He told officers that Lane approached the man, who was in his wheelchair, and demanded money but when he said 'no' he snatched his coat and then punched him to the head, knocking him from his wheelchair. After searching the jacket he threw it into bushes.

Mr Cook said a second 13-year-old also contacted police telling a similar story adding that the old man was left crying on the ground after being knocked from his chair.

When Lane was arrested he told police that he had been with the young boys, neither of whom can be named for legal reasons, but that he had not attempted to rob the pensioner.

But at an earlier hearing Lane, of Castleton Road, Middleaze, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob. The court heard he had a string of previous convictions for public order offences and burglary.

Ian Halliday, defending, said that the only mitigating factors for the offence was that it was not pre-planned but opportunistic and the physical injuries were not that great.

Jailing him for six years Judge Mark Dyer said: "The public of this country are fed up with young men who see and opportunity to carry out a quick robbery and soon be on their way.

"Very recently the Lord Chief Justice of England has spoken of the need to pass long sentences to deter young people acting in the way you did.

"What makes this case so appalling was you chose as your victim an old man of 78, now 79, who was wheelchair-bound as a result of a stroke, paralysed down one side, only able to maintain a separate life with the aid of carers in a flat specially adapted for him.

"Going up to this old man you hit him hard sufficient to turn him over in his electric wheelchair, take his coat off and throw it away.

"He had suffered a stroke and had a heart condition. It makes you very fortunate in one sense in that he may well have died and you wouldn't be on this charge but something else more serious."

The judge also congratulated the two young boys for their part in giving evidence to the police and having 'a proper sense of what is right'.