A WOMAN has spoken of the horrific assault she suffered at the hands of two violent robbers.

Sheila Dowling, 63, had a bottle smashed over her face in the early hours of May 10 as she defended her terminally ill husband Dennis from two robbers demanding cash and car keys.

One of the two intruders, 20-year-old Darren Banks, has just been given an indefinite jail sentence for the attack.

She said: "I sat up and when he came towards me, hitting me in the chest with my father’s walking stick, I just pushed him away.

"I was holding onto the walking stick and so the other man hit me round the head with a glass bottle.

"I couldn’t see properly because of the blood and my night-dress was covered in it. It was a bloody mess but I had to be calm for my husband. I was trying to protect him all the time."

The grandmother from Bromley says she feels "pity" for her attacker and believes the incident quickened her terminally ill husband's death.

She said: "I’m certain the attack had an effect on my husband’s life.

"He was diagnosed with terminal cancer but was supposed to live for another two years, instead he died in September after five months.

"My husband remembered a lot about that night and I think he had a heart attack because of it. I very rarely go out now without anyone with me."

Banks, of Prince Road, Selhurst, Croydon, has previous convictions for stealing cars and driving offences.

He was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause GBH and attempted robbery at Croydon Crown Court.

Banks, who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to an indeterminate jail sentence of at least four years.

The second attacker has never been caught.

* For more on this story see this week's Bromley Extra.