A woman in her 70s "thought she was going to be killed" when a robber followed her home and pounced on her in her own property, a court has heard.

Harvey Smithson, 23, trailed the 77-year-old victim, who has Parkinson's disease, through Norwich to her home in the Oak Street area.

Norwich Crown Court heard after entering her property Smithson "grabbed her round her neck" before "hitting her in the face" and knocking her glasses off.

Danielle O'Donovan, prosecuting, said Smithson grabbed her bag which contained an iPhone, and a purse with bank cards and cash before fleeing.

Miss O'Donovan said the victim, who is now 78, said she "thought she would be killed" and was "shaken and "very scared" as a result of the robbery on March 24 this year.

She said it was "deeply concerning" that CCTV showed Smithson having followed her "for some period of time" and demonstrated the offence was "significantly planned".

In a statement read out in court the victim said she thought "she was going to be killed".

She feels her "quality of life has diminished" as a result of the offence which has also impacted on her Parkinson's disease.

Smithson, of Park Court, North Walsham , did not appear in court for sentence on Friday (November 3) and refused to leave his prison cell having previously admitted robbery.

Passing an extended eight-year sentence made up of five years custody and three years on licence, Recorder Sarah Fraser Butlin said Smithson used "significant force" in the robbery and was a "high risk of serious harm to the public".

Duncan O'Donnell, mitigating, accepted "it doesn't reflect well on him that he has declined to attend court".

But he insisted it was not a case where the defendant had "buried his head in the sand" and that he had been engaging with the probation service.

He said Smithson, whose best mitigation was the fact he had pleaded guilty, was still a young man who has indicated that "drugs make me do bad things".

Mr O'Donnell accepted a custodial sentence was "inevitable" but asked that the court give Smithson "some light at the end of the tunnel".