A DELIVERY driver dragged an 80-year-old man along the road as he tried to stop him stealing his wife’s handbag.

Callous Anthony Davies grabbed Maria Stewart’s handbag as she and husband Frank made their way home along Higher Market Street, Farnworth after attending a party at Farnworth and Kearsley Labour Club.

But Bolton Crown Court heard how, after Davies jumped into his parked Transit van, Mr Stewart went after him, opening the passenger door.

With his 60-year-old wife close behind, Mr Stewart started to climb into the passenger seat when Davies drove off, knocking Mrs Stewart to the ground and throwing Mr Stewart into the road a short distance further on.

Davies told a series of lies to try and escape justice, claiming to his boss that a passenger had fallen out of the cab, and to police that it was a case of mistaken identity as he had loaned the van to someone in a pub.

He even removed the high visibility jacket he had been wearing and returned to the scene while police were with the elderly couple, handing back the handbag and claiming he had found it in the road.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, remanded 38-year-old Davies in prison and will sentence him today after he admitted dangerous driving, theft and two counts of causing actual bodily harm.

Andrew MacKintosh, prosecuting, told the court how it was just after 1am on March 18, 2019, when Mrs and Mrs Stewart were walking along Higher Market Street when a van pulled up at the junction with Black Horse Street.

A man got out, ran down the side street and began to urinate in a doorway.

“The man then turned and said, ‘sorry I didn’t see you there’ and Mr Stewart replied saying not to worry and he had been there,” said Mr MacKintosh.

The couple carried on walking but, seconds later, Mrs Stewart felt her handbag being dragged off her shoulder and saw the man running back towards the van with it.

The couple went after the thief and Mr Stewart opened the van’s passenger door, demanded the bag be returned and tried to punch the driver.

“The man shouted, ‘I’ve thrown it out’ and drove off at speed,” said Mr MacKintosh.

Mrs Stewart was knocked to the ground, suffering a suspected fractured elbow and Mr Stewart was dragged 20 yards along the road.

“He eventually fell out of the passenger door of the van – he landed on the pavement and struck his head on the ground,” said Mr MacKintosh.

The pensioner lost consciousness for a short time and suffered cuts to his head and hand.

A passing taxi driver stopped and called police and a few minutes later Davies returned to the scene and handed Mrs Stewart her handbag .

“He told Mrs Stewart that he had seen the bag being thrown out of the window of a van near Home Bargains,” said Mr MacKintosh. A pouch of tobacco, her cigarette case and glasses were missing.

Shocking CCTV footage of the incident was shown in court.

The van, which belongs to a man for whom Davies worked as a delivery driver, was traced.

Three days after the theft Davies sent a text to his boss claiming that a passenger he had given a lift to had jumped from the van but he did not see what had happened.

And in another text he told him: “None of this was my fault – it was a passenger I gave a lift to.”

On May 22, 2019 Davies, of Cravenwood Rise, Westhoughton, was arrested and police found clothing he had been wearing that night as well as a holdall containing £20,000 worth of heroin.

He admitted drug dealing and in July 2019 was jailed for 32 months but he denied injuring the pensioners, claiming he had lent the van to someone he met in the Church Hotel at Farnworth, where he had been drinking.

The court heard that the mugging has badly affected the Stewarts. A scab from the wound on Mr Stewart’s head was found to be cancerous and he now has to use a walking stick and electric scooter.

In a victim statement read out in court Mr Stewart said: “I still struggle with sleep at night – I often see Maria, my wife, helpless on the floor.”

He added that he had lost the confidence to go out on his own.

“This makes me feel sad to be like that and I feel that something has been taken away from my life,” said Mr Stewart.

Mrs Stewart added: “I can’t explain the panic I felt seeing Frank just lying there unconscious and not moving. I thought he was dead. I remember screaming out as I sat on the pavement. That image of Frank will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

The court heard that Davies has previous convictions for drug dealing, assault and vehicle theft.

Kevin Liston, defending, said Davies’ behaviour has changed since he was released from his last sentence in May last year and he feels shame, embarrassment and remorse for what he did to the Stewarts.