A PENSIONER says she “would have made mincement” of the violent burglar who raided her home if she’d had half a chance.

The 79-year-old Colchester woman is urging the courts to make an example of the raider if he is caught.

She was the first victim of a vicious thug believed to be targeting old people in the area.

The woman answered a knock at the door of her home on the Causeway, on February 19 at about 9pm. She found a man, who asked her for directions to Goring Road.

She began to explain it to him when he stepped into the house, pulling the door shut behind him.

Speaking for the first time about the attack, the woman, who does not want to be identified, said: “He put his arm around and held me by my neck.”

The attacker then pushed her against the wall, keeping his arm around her neck, and demanded drugs. She told him she had none and the man then demanded her mobile phone.

Once she had convinced the man she didn’t own one, he dragged the pensioner through the house by her neck, ripping out her telephone wire as he went She said: “He didn’t want the tablets I had. He said ‘they’re no bloody good to me’.

“He had me in the lounge by my neck, and I was kicking up a shindig. After a while, he said he was going to prowl around the house and if he saw any diazepam, any money or a mobile he’d hurt me again.”

The woman sat frozen in fear until she was sure he has gone, then banged on a neighbour’s door, screaming for help.

She added: “It was terrifying. I keep the door locked now.

“It makes me so angry. I wish I could’ve got hold of him with a sharp carving knife. I’d have made mincemeat of him. I’m only a shrimp. I’m only about five stone – but I’m angry.”

Detectives believe the same man may be responsible for this and two other aggravated burglaries in the space of 11 days.

In the most recent, a 77-year-old man was bound and gagged in Conifer Close, Colchester.

The other incident saw a husband and wife threatened with a knife in their home in Ayloffe Road, Colchester.

The burglar was white, in his thirties, slim and about 5ft 10ins tall. He was wearing a black jacket, grey trousers, black gloves and a black woollen hat, with the bottom half of his face covered. Anyone with information, call Colchester CID on 0300 3334444.

l Two 31-year-old men and a 40-year-old man, all from Colchester, have been arrested and bailed without charge in connection with three burglaries in Colchester.

The alleged offences range from conspiracy to commit robbery, aggravated burglary, robbery and theft.

The 40-year-old has been bailed until the beginning of April, the other two until May.