Autistic pensioner attacked for handbag in Maidstone

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)

An autistic pensioner was attacked by a thief who stole her bag which contained just £11 as she made her way home after a night of dancing at a Maidstone pub.

Lesley Wilson, 69, had been enjoying the music at the Old House at Home in Pudding Lane when she had her handbag snatched from her on Sunday, May 6 at around 11.45pm.

Mrs Wilson was initially tapped on the back before being hit and having her bag stolen.

Police are hunting a mixed race man who is around 5ft 6 with black hair and a short beard.

He was also wearing a black hooded top, black tracksuit bottoms and white trainers.

Kayleigh Parnham, who has a daughter with Mrs Wilson’s son, has been overwhelmed by the support the pubs in Maidstone have shown in the wake of the terrifying ordeal.

She said: “When she was walking home somebody tapped her on her back. They took her bag and hit her. She called him a b****** which is when he came back and punched her and kicked her.

“She only had £11 in it and her house keys, umbrella and cardigan.

“She is autistic. All of the pubs in Maidstone have been amazing and have started a collection for her.”

Despite requiring three butterfly stitches in her forehead Mrs Wilson was keen to return to one of her favourite pubs and went out to dance at the Old House at Home last night.

Miss Parnham added: “When her husband died she started going out on her own and all the pubs look after her.

“She wanted to go out last night so I took her and she was up dancing with the live band.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Kent Police on 01622 604100 quoting YY/15422/18.

Alternatively call Kent Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

To donate to Lesley's fund visit www.tinyurl.com/lesleybag


Source (with images): Autistic pensioner punched and kicked by handbag thief

 

[Streetwise]

not a soul helped me when im harassed by children

 

[pjcnet]

I very much doubt the attacker could have cared less whether the elderly lady had autism or not, he would have only looked only at her vulnerability and it could have happened to any elderly person or in fact anyone that looked like they wouldn't be able to defend themselves in a place where he thought that people are less likely to help. If he'd realised there was only £11 in her handbag he might have chosen someone else if there was someone just as vulnerable that was readily available, although even £10 can mean a huge amount to a desperate heroin addict because it's normally just enough to take an agonising heroin withdrawal away for a short time, long enough for him to pull his head together in order to plan committing his next crime. Hard drug addiction can often make people who used to be considered respectable do terrible things to obtain it that they didn't believe they could be capable of, many do nothing else but go through a never ending cycle of committing crime for money and using drugs all day every single day until they're forcibly stopped. Street drugs, especially hard drugs are truly evil and the scourge of society and there really is a 99% chance that the attacker is a hard drug addict that desperately needed to feed his habit, most probably on heroin and crack. To a heroin addict doing without is simply not an option, most will do virtually anything to obtain it and if they have to take stupid risks while committing horrid crimes like this and there's no easier option that is readily available a large proportion will take it in total utter desperation. While committing the crime his main worry would be getting money without being caught, there would be no time for compassion or guilt because if caught he'd be denied access to his drugs, but if desperate a heroin addict will take greater risks, in the UK he'd get treatment eventually after being arrested, but he would most probably still suffer first in the cells with minimal medication before a suitable script was later arranged and even prescribed heroin supplements don't take away the psychological addiction or the extreme psychological addiction to hard drugs such a crack.

In many ways the drug dealers are even worse than the attacker himself, especially the ones that don't even sell to feed their own habit, they know damn well the extremely severe life changing adverse effects of taking them because they see it every single day when they serve their "customers". The attacker is in a lot of ways very ill and is in some ways a type of victim himself, but there obviously still has to be punishments for people who commit horrid crimes like this even if they are a hard drug addict as well as suitable help. This particular attacker is probably even more horrid than an average desperate heroin addict however since he decided to come back and teach the elderly victim a lesson by hurting her further after she called him a "b******", this was purely malicious and for this they should throw the book at him.

It's nice they've had a collection for her and of course she deserves it, but unfortunately there's innocent victims of violent crime every single day where a very high percentage are caused by hard drug addiction and sadly many of them don't get reported in the news and the victims don't get collections either.

I hope they catch him soon because obviously there's a huge chance he will re-offend until he's forcibly stopped, but it will be even better if they catch his drug dealer(s) too.

 

[pjcnet]

not a soul helped me when im harassed by children

Once I was a victim of an attempted mugging by 2 men about 10 years ago in the UK, they approached when I was minding my own business waiting at a bus stop and asked whether I wanted to buy weed which I refused. Before I knew it in broad daylight they suddenly started punching me in the face and they kept trying to get into my pockets, luckily I fought them off long enough to get away and they got absolutely nothing even though I was carrying cash and cards, but not a soul helped even though there must have been at least 50 witnesses, many looked and continued walking or stood back and afterwards I found out that there wasn't even a single call to the police. I had a few bruises and looked worse for wear afterwards, but my worst injuries were psychological because I was already fearful of going out places and this only made it much worse. Unfortunately this is the society we often live in today, especially in what are considered as bad areas which I happened to be in, but I still didn't consider myself in that much danger in such a busy place.

 

[Judge]

Another predatory crime against the elderly. You get to a certain age and petty criminals will target you. An exposure greatly increased if you're a pedestrian after hours.

 

[Catana]

Stories like that make me cringe, along with the one about an autistic man performing at a sports event. Why? Because their autism has nothing to do with it. The media seems to have only two ways of approaching autism: 1. the person is granted special attention because of the autism even when such incidents happen all the time without regard to who or what they are. 2. Special attention is paid even though the achievement is perfectly normal when it's accomplished by non-autistics.

It's sort of like oohing and aahing when a monkey or a dog does something cute or clever, because... it's a monkey. But it's also not normal or usual, so it just points up that the rest of the monkeys probably can't do that. The monkey -- or the autistic person -- is pointed out as an exception. I don't think autistics or aspies need any more of that kind of news coverage.

 

[Streetwise]

Another predatory crime against the elderly. You get to a certain age and petty criminals will target you. An exposure greatly increased if you're a pedestrian after hours.

I don't think its just the elderly!it's the vulnerable!my sister who I think is neuro diverse has left the house in the middle of the night and walked the streets !!in her 20s!!!,it depends on the person!

 

[Judge]

I don't think its just the elderly!it's the vulnerable!my sister who I think is neuro diverse has left the house in the middle of the night and walked the streets !!in her 20s!!!,it depends on the person!

Depends on what a criminal predator's M.O. involves if anything at all. How they interpret their victim as a "mark". Or as @pjcnet mentioned, drug addicts who may attack you only because you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With the elderly or disabled, it doesn't take a lot of smarts to identify someone of age and possibly some manifestation or assumption of diminished capacity. Though in the case of some of us, a criminal predator just might be in for a shock if they attempt to accost them.

 

[Streetwise]

Depends on what a criminal predator's M.O. involves if anything at all. How they interpret their victim as a "mark". Or as @pjcnet mentioned, drug addicts who may attack you only because you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With the elderly or disabled, it doesn't take a lot of smarts to identify someone of age and possibly some manifestation or assumption of diminished capacity. Though in the case of some of us, a criminal predator just might be in for a shock if they attempt to accost them.

I think my sister would've lanced them with her 4 inch heels which I'm amazed didn't kill her

 

[Mary Anne]

The attacker did not know she was autistic. I surmise that she might have been a tad “tipsy.” Drunk people are heavily targeted for mugging, along with the disabled, the injured, the elderly, women, etc.

I bet the “pubs take care of her” while she “spent the night dancing.” Pubs loved me too back in the day.
Just saying that I too dislike how “autism” comes up in this story, and it has no bearing on the incident.