A KENT woman died after she was brutally mugged by a former Northern Ireland terrorist, a court heard.

Colin McCurry, now 32, was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force when he was jailed in May 1995 for 15 years for attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson and gun offences.

Committed when aged 19 in March 1994, he fired five shots at Martin Lawler at his home in County Antrim, believing him to be Joseph "Spud" Murphy, of the Provisional IRA.

McCurry served less than four years of the sentence before he was released in April 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement, when terrorist murderers were freed.

He had only been free for just over two weeks from a four-month sentence for possessing drugs and driving while disqualified when he pounced on 93-year-old Ethel Pym in Margate.

McCurry was jailed indefinitely on Thursday at Maidstone Crown Court after admitting manslaughter and robbery. He will not be considered for parole until he has served three years, less eight months spent on remand.

The court heard that the active widow, who walked with a stick, had just got off a bus in Upper Dane Road, Margate, on July 5 to go to her nearby home in Rosedale Road when she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head.

Edmund Fowler, prosecuting, said the victim was knocked over and lay on the ground bleeding and unable to move because of pain in her left hip.

She tried to hold on to her bag containing £70 but McCurry snatched it and ran off.

Several men gave chase over walls and through gardens before McCurry ran into a house, where he was detained until the police arrived.

Mr Fowler said Mrs Pym was taken to the QEQM Hospital at Margate, where she was found to have a fractured left hip and cuts and bruises.

Two days later, she had a hip replacement operation but then became ill and died the following morning from heart failure, brought on by stress.