A man who held a syringe to a 91-year-old woman’s neck during a “despicable” robbery has been jailed.

Mark Ellis was one of two men who knocked on the disabled victim’s door and pretended to be friends of her late husband.

Once inside her home in Ramsgate, Kent, the pensioner was pushed to the floor, told her cats would be harmed and had her bank card and £160 in cash stolen.

Ellis, 45, of no fixed address, was given seven years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to robbery, Kent Police said.

Police discovered the robbery when the victim contacted her bank to report her stolen card in January.

The victim told detectives she had opened the door to two men who at first pretended they had been friends of her husband.

When they entered her house they began rummaging through her belongings.

She was pushed to the floor by Ellis who demanded she hand over her jewellery.

When she said she had no jewellery, he produced a syringe containing a clear liquid from his pocket and threatened to squirt it at her cats.

He then held it against the victim’s neck, which caused the liquid to trickle onto her skin.

Police established the woman’s bank card had been used on a number of occasions to buy goods to the value of £1,330, including a mobile phone from a shop in Ashford High Street.

The transaction was captured by CCTV cameras and provided a positive identification of Ellis.

Forensics officers also found a glove he left on top of the freezer at the victim’s home.

Investigating officer DC Mark Huttley said: “The despicable actions of Mark Ellis and his accomplice had a deeply profound effect on the victim, who was so traumatised that she can now no longer live by herself.

“She has since moved away from the home where she lived with her husband for many years and left Thanet completely.

“Ellis initially claimed to have had no knowledge of the incident and that he was shocked to have been arrested but when faced with the combination of CCTV and forensic evidence he had little choice but to accept responsibility and plead guilty.

“He will now serve a considerable period of time behind bars as a result.”

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