THESE are the injuries inflicted on pensioner Derrick Jones who was mugged in broad daylight in Newport for his bus pass and hearing aid.

The 80-year-old grandfather was left with cuts and severe bruising to his face and a fractured left thumb after he was pushed to the ground by a man who ran off after robbing him.

Mr Jones was walking along North Street in Baneswell, opposite the back of St Woolos School, at around 11am on April 27 when he heard someone running towards him from behind.

Moments later he was pushed violently to the ground hitting his face on the pavement.

Severely shaken, he lay face down on the floor for around five minutes before a man helped him up and took him home.

The father-of-five said: “I did not know what to think.

The shock at my age could have killed me. I was just shaking.

A neighbour phoned an ambulance and he was taken to Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital where he was treated for his injuries and released later the same day.

After the attack, the former Llanwern steelworker noticed his hearing aid and bus pass, had been taken from his coat pocket.

He managed to hang on to his wallet, which was in his chest pocket.

But despite the ordeal, which has left him with problems with his sight, Mr Jones maintains he will not hide away at home. In a double blow, a few hundred pounds and jewellery was stolen from Mr Jones just days earlier.

Mr Jones described his attacker as in his early twenties, average height with brown hair and stocky build.

Gwent Police confirmed officers were investigating both incidents. Contact them on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Despicable act of a coward

HOW despicable do you have to be to attack an 80-year-old man in the street, knock him to the ground, rob him and leave him lying in agony?

We simply do not understand how any young man can sink so low as the mugger in this case did.

Sadly this is not a rare case, as we are all too well aware, but it still leaves us speechless.

Any crime is bad enough but attacking a vulnerable elderly person is so much worse.

If the individual who did this looks at the picture of the victim, Derrick Jones, we hope he feels some shred of remorse when he sees the injuries he inflicted.

Unfortunately such people appear to have little or no humanity and may well be capable of even more appalling crimes.

We can only hope that if and when he is caught he is punished severely, despite the inevitable pleas for mercy from his defence.

The one positive note from this story is that Mr Jones is not going to be cowed by this attack.

People like him are made of sterner stuff and he will continue to live life as before.

He is obviously much more of a man than the cowardly lowlife who mugged him.