She said, “I stay near there, and my husband saw police all over the area and saw the lady looking shaken in the back of the patrol car. Everybody knows this lady —I see her in the street quite a lot. She speaks to everybody and is quite a character.

“She is very small and I would say she is quite frail, although she doesn’t look it, but she walks with two sticks.”

Mrs Brown has now advised pensioners not to leave the house with more money than they need, and called on police and community wardens to step up patrols in the area.

She said, “This is absolutely horrific, but I don’t know why was she carrying so much money with her.

“All somebody should carry is what they need for a day.

There is no way she would have needed all that. I don’t think you can call it an isolated incident when it is happening so often.

“It would help if they were patrolling more, and if there is somebody professional in place like a policeman or a warden then it is more likely to deter an incident like this.”

Mrs Brown added, “It makes other people very wary of going out.

“This is their town where they live, and they shouldn’t be afraid to go out at night.”