A CANCER patient has recounted her heartache after she was mugged on her way to treatment at the Christie Hospital - and had her medication and priceless photos taken.

Margaret Trivasse, 69, was walking to catch a tram when she felt someone tugging on her handbag, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

She screamed as her bag was taken by Lee Walsh, who fled to a waiting car being driven by his girlfriend Marie Ellis, the court was told.

Luckily passerby Mohammed Afzal witnessed the robbery and followed Walsh and Ellis in their VW car, before noting down part of the registration number.

Walsh and Ellis were later arrested over a series of robberies in the Bury and Radcliffe areas.

Now Ellis, of Peel Lodge, Bury, who pleaded guilty to her role in the robbery and four charges of handling stolen goods, has been jailed for 30 months.

Walsh, of George Street, Rochdale, who has admitted to six offences of robbery and one theft, will be sentenced on December 2 so the probation service can undertake a dangerousness assessment.

And Mr Afzal has been awarded £500, from public funds, by Judge John Edwards, "as the offenders would not have been brought to book" without his intervention.

Prosecutor Gavin Howie said Ellis was also captured on CCTV footage withdrawing £500, at a Tesco Express, using a bank card belonging to one of the robbery victims, Leonara Tudge.

Mrs Tudge, 77, was robbed by Walsh as she was walking along Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, on May 24, he told the court.