AN ELDERLY woman who was beaten up with her own walking stick has spoken of her shock at discovering her attacker had murdered someone weeks earlier.
Angela Mayger admits she felt "a chill in her heart" after reading her attacker Gary Smith had killed a pensioner two months earlier in Cambridgeshire.
Mrs Mayger, 74, was hit around the head twice with the stick in February last year and punched in the face when she refused to hand over her car keys to Smith, who had burst into her Kilham home.
She was left with concussion and severe bruising in the attack.
Smith, 21, and his nephew Frankie Parker, 26, were jailed for life last week after they were found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court of battering widowed farmer Llywelyn Thomas to death with a crowbar in his own home.
Smith will serve a minimum of 22 years, while Parker will serve at least 24 years.
Mrs Mayger said: "It is very chilling to think he had already killed before he attacked me.
"But for the grace of God, that could have been me.
"I didn't realise what had happened until much later.
"I remember reading about the Cambridgeshire murder at the time but had no idea it was the same person who had attacked me.
"I just feel so relieved now, as he could easily have done the same to me. I maybe survived because it was only a walking stick rather than a crowbar. It doesn't bear thinking about."
Mrs Mayger is pleased Smith has now been given a long prison term.
She said: "I feel so sorry for the son of Mr Thomas.
"But I know Smith is now staying in prison for a long time. He was already serving five years for the attack on me.
"At least now I know he can't do this to someone else."
Smith and Parker murdered Mr Thomas, 76, during a burglary at his Chittering home on December 17, 2011.
Smith, originally of Bridlington but most recently living at a travellers' site in Chesterton, and Parker, of Nene Road, Ely, had both denied murdering Mr Thomas
But last week, the jury found both men guilty of murder after less than two hours of deliberations.
Mrs Mayger has spent the past year and a half trying to piece her life together again but admits the recent court case has opened up old wounds.
She said: "I have an alert button around my neck, which I can ring if I get worried. My home is also a bit like Fort Knox now.
"But I have tried to put it behind me and keep busy.
"I don't want this experience to beat me, but I admit reading about this has brought it back.
"He was a strong young man and had been a hardened criminal from an early age.
"I just remember his terrible eyes, he was so angry.
"I saw them again staring at me when I read bout the murder. It made me feel awful.
"But now I want to draw a line under it all.
"I had only moved here a couple of months before I was attacked, after the death of my husband. But all the neighbours rallied round me and became good friends.
"The police here have also been very good to me and they did a brilliant job at the time."
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