DISABLED pensioner Jack Smiles fought a mugger who grabbed him when he was on his motorised scooter.

The 77-year-old was unloading shopping in his back yard when the robber pounced and snatched his savings.

Mr Smiles had been to the Lloyds TSB bank when the thug struck.

Detectives believe he had watched the widower, of Heaton, Newcastle, return home on his scooter before striking.

Mr Smiles, of Heaton Park Road, said: "I took the scooter into the yard when I felt a hand reach over me from behind me into my top pocket.

"He was just saying 'let it go, just let it go'.

"When I realised, I tried to bite his arm but I missed and ended up biting my own lip. I couldn't turn round fast enough to get him and he was off."

Mr Smiles said: "I have to take 17 different types of tablets per day to make sure that I can keep going.

"I was walking OK until this happened. Now my walking has got quite bad again. And it has affected the way I live."

Mr Smiles was targeted between 4.30pm and 4.50pm on Monday.

The man police are hunting is about 6ft 2in and was wearing a cream-coloured top.

In a separate incident, which police are not linking, an 83-year-old grandmother, also in Heaton, was mugged.

As she clung on to her handbag, he dragged her off her feet outside her front door and into a garden wall, demolishing part of it as he hauled her down the street.

The woman was treated for cuts and bruising.

Her attacker has ginger to dirty blonde hair, is slim with sharp facial features and was about 5ft 9in.