A REWARD of more than £10,000 has been offered to help find the thugs who battered a terminally-ill pensioner in her own home, a senior detective said yesterday.

Great-grandmother Mary Richardson, 81, was left with horrendous injuries to her head and body after burglars ransacked the home where she lived alone.

Her daughter Karyn Dickman, 42, sobbed at a news conference at North Shields police station, Tyneside: ''How can you sleep after doing this?

''We haven't slept since this happened.''

Mrs Richardson, who was widowed 13 years ago and suffers dementia, was discovered by her carer beaten in the hallway of her home in Shiremoor, North Tyneside, three days ago.

She suffered a fractured skull and collar bone in the attack.

Detective Superintendent Steve Wade said a businessman and two newspapers had put up more than £10,000 reward money.

He said Mrs Richardson suffered multiple blows to her head, causing horrific bruising. He said she may have been punched and kicked.

She was in a serious but stable condition in North Tyneside General Hospital today.

Mr Wade said a witness had come forward who saw a man, around 6ft tall and wearing a dark woollen hat, around the back of her home at about 4am on Friday before he clambered over a fence.

He said the witness did not see the man's face but he was slightly overweight.

Mr Wade added: ''I am pleased to say we have had a large number of calls from the public about this horrific assault, many offering sympathy and expressing their shock and revulsion about the attack on a terminally-ill pensioner.''

Mrs Dickman said her mother, who has liver cancer, had been responding well to a new treatment for her dementia prior to the attack. But the assault has put Mrs Richardson back and left her very confused, her daughter said.