A ROBBER laughed after he pushed a pensioner to the ground to steal his betting winnings.

Sofiene Mehnana, who has a history of preying on the elderly, was jailed for five years for breaking the hip of his elderly victim.

Mehnana, of Coleridge Close, Oxford, followed 82-year-old Frank Greenwood home from the bookies before stealing more than £300 of his winnings.

Mr Greenwood fell and broke his hip in the late-night robbery.

Drug addict Mehnana, 33, had seen the retired taxi driver earlier in the day as he made one of his regular visits to a Cowley betting shop on September 16.

Prosecutor Jonathan Stone said Mehnana had called his flatmate at 9pm to ask “if he wanted to earn some easy money”.

He added: “He had previously spoken to him about an old man who was always in the bookies showing his money around.”

The flatmate refused and advised Mehnana to leave the pensioner alone. Instead the robber, who has previous convictions for stealing a handbag from a 94-year-old wheelchair user and using a stolen bank card belonging to an 84-year-old woman, followed Mr Greenwood home.

The victim got on the number five bus to Blackbird Leys from Cowley Road.

Mr Stone said: “From the bus stop where he always gets off to where he lives is not far, about 30 yards, he felt a bang from behind his body which caused him to fall after hitting his front door.

“Mr Greenwood was lying on the floor. While he was lying there he saw the male put his hand in his left pocket and very quickly run off dropping two notes.

“Mr Greenwood said, ‘He ran at an angle more to my left, looked around and he was laughing.”

A passerby helped the pensioner up and the police were called, with the description of the offender recognised by an officer.

When police were sent to Mehnana’s address they found a rolled up wad of notes to the value of £310.

Peter Du Feu, defending, told the court Mehnana had battled a heroin addiction and preyed on elderly pensioners to avoid violent confrontation. He said he was sorry for his actions, which were motivated by his drug use.

Jailing him, Judge James Wadsworth QC said: “I give you credit for your guilty plea.

“You have a history of thieving from old people, but sooner or later when someone gets into the habit of doing that, somebody gets seriously hurt.”