The 54-year-old woman was badly injured in the attack, but fought so desperately to hang on to her handbag that she lashed out and knocked the scarf that was covering his face aside.

During the struggle, the hooded mugger dragged her four yards along the road behind his bike and she saw anger and "pure hatred" on his face.

The woman, who does not want to be named, is the most badly injured of the 16 women who have been attacked in the past four weeks.

She was on her way to catch a bus to the supermarket where she works to raise cash to help care for her blind and disabled husband, when she was set upon in Benland, Bretton, last Thursday.

Today, she is still in Peterborough District Hospital, where surgeons had to insert two plates in a broken hip and pin her broken collar bone. One of her knees has also been damaged and she suffered bruising and cuts..

She is facing months of recuperation, and admits she still feels terrified but decided to tell her story to The Evening Telegraph as a warning to others.

She said: "I was minding my own business when he pulled up beside me on a bike and asked where Sainsbury's was.

"When I pointed, he grabbed my bag. I kept hold of it but he pulled and pulled. I punched him in the mouth and knocked the scarf away from his face. I could see the anger in his face. It was pure hatred.

"He dragged me about four yards across the ground until the handle of the bag broke. If it hadn't, he would still have been dragging me.

"I was screaming for help. I couldn't stand, I couldn't even crawl. Then the heavens opened with a great big hail storm.

"I was on the floor and couldn't move. And all for the sake of trying to go to work to help me look after my disabled husband. That's all I was doing.

"I'm 54, and right now I can't stand, can't sit, can't lay or sleep, but if he had done this to someone older, he could have killed them.

"I'm reliving the attack all the time. I don't feel safe any more, I'm terrified of my own shadow at the moment."

Asked what she thought of the man who targets lone women she said simply: "He's the scum of the earth."

The victim's husband is now being cared for by one of their daughters. The mugger got away with £30 in cash.

Police were today handing out panic alarms and offering advice to people in Bretton Park.

The offender, who is said to be aged between 16 and 20, and wears a dark hooded top, has struck in Bretton, Dogsthorpe and Paston.

Police advice: Don't carry a handbag
DON'T carry a handbag, at least until the ride-by robber is caught, is the advice from police.

If you must, then make sure it contains little cash or valuables.

Police today also urged women not to put up a struggle and hand over the bag if the villain should strike as he appears to be ruthless.

If you should carry a handbag then the advice from community safety team leader Debbie Sampson is to wear the strap across the chest as illustrated in the photograph, left, rather than on just one shoulder, as shown far left.

n Anyone with any information should call police on 0845 456 4564, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.