A war hero was murdered by a mugger who left him with a smashed hip after robbing him of just £40, an inquest concluded today.

Geoffrey Bacon, 90, who was General Monty's D-Day driver and a special operations agent, died after a thug robbed him of cash and his bus pass as the pensioner returned from a shopping trip.

The veteran had also chauffered Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and later US President.

At his inquest today, almost seven years after his death at a Thanet care home, coroner Dr Philip Barlow recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing.

Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Nathan Eason told the court that the investigation was "complete" despite the war veteran's attacker never being brought to justice.

Cheryl Weatherly, manager for Norfolk House care home in Westgate-on-Sea said: "Mr Bacon talked to staff about the assault on himself and displayed a bitter outlook on his assailant and where he had come from.

"Dr Meakin visited and Mr Bacon agreed he was feeling low and medication was given.

"He showed slight improvement for a couple of days but this was for his family, they knew that he was not improving. Mr Bacon told us he was 91 and had always done everything for himself.

"He showed independence, dignity and pride, he felt the neighbourhood had let him down.

"He was in my care for three weeks and it was one of the saddest cases I have witnessed."

During the war Geoffrey joined the Royal Engineers as a mechanic and became a respected driver in the Royal Artillery.

In France he chauffeured Dwight Eisenhower as well as Monty and was described by senior officers as a first class reliable driver.

In April 2010 Geoffrey was attacked from behind as he returned from shopping trip to his flat in Camberwell, south London.

He was thrown to the floor, shattering his hip and punched in the face before the robber ransacked his second-floor flat.

He died 11 weeks later after collapsing in his care home in Westgate, on August 5 2010.

Dr Peter Graham-Jerreat, who conducted Geoffrey Bacon's post-mortem examination, said: "A blood clot had formed in the left leg, breaking off and travelling into the lungs.

"A fracture was likely the cause of thrombosis in the lower limb.

"The cause of death was a pulmonary embolism, he also had deep vein thrombosis and a fractured left leg which was operated on."

At Southwark Coroner's Court Assistant coroner Dr Philip Barlow said: "The lack of mobility he had was a result of the assault and the fracture of the left hip left him with deep vein thrombosis in the left leg.

"He was in my care for three weeks and it was one of the saddest cases I have witnessed" - Cheryl Weatherly

"It went through the blood stream and caused a pulmonary embolism. That was the cause of death."

Detective Inspector Nathan Eason of Scotland Yard's Homicide and Crime Command said: "The facts of the case are that on 26 April 2010 at about 10.30 Mr Bacon had been out shopping to Morrisons and when he returned he went up the stairs to his second floor flat and as he was unlocking the front door he was pushed from behind.

"The assailant then stepped over him and punched him in the face and removed property from his pocket.

"While he was on the floor the suspect went round his flat to steal property and then shut the door behind him.

"Mr Bacon then lay on the floor for 15 to 20 minutes and was shouting for help.

"A neighbour heard him and looked through the letter box and saw him lying there. She then called the ambulance."

Referring to the police investigation DI Eason said: "On the day of the incident a power outage took out three blocks so no CCTV was found.

"We tried to return to the crime scene but unfortunately the flat had been renovated.

"We tried more detailed house to house inquiries on the estate but no witnesses came forward.

"A partial DNA profile was found on Mr Bacon's jacket, potentially while the assailant was removing something.

"A hair was also found on a piece of tissue and Mr Bacon had said in his witness statement that when the suspect left the flat he has some tissue in his hand.

"Unfortunately we have not been able to see if the hair, which we still have, is Mr Bacon's or the offender's.

"The partial DNA profile is not suitable for putting into the DNA database to be searched but we search it in the database every six months to a year.

"He was General Montgomery's driver on D-Day but none of the witnesses we interviewed and eliminated were able to identify the offender.

"Thirty three people were investigated in great detail but unfortunately they were eliminated, or was a long investigation.

"The mugger is a complete coward who decided picking on a 91-year-old frail old man was easy" - Philip Bacon

"The investigation is now complete, all the leads have been exhausted but in the future as DNA is improved more information could come out of that DNA profile."

Dr Barlow concluded: "It is clear that Geoffrey Bacon was assaulted on the 26 April 2010 at his home.

"It is very clear that before the incident he did his own shopping, washing and was very mobile.

"At that age he was 90, he was a war veteran and General Montgomery's driver on D-Day and was still fully independent.

"The evidence that I have received shows that he was determined as he could be to be independent and it was that spirit that got him through his life adventures.

"He was left lying on the floor while his assailant robbed him and searched his flat.

"He suffered a fracture of the left femur and was moved to Norfolk House care home and developed deep vein thrombosis and then a pulmonary embolism.

"He collapsed and died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

"The evidence makes absolutely clear that he was fully mobile and independent before the assault.

"It was the embolism that was the cause of death, my conclusion therefore is one of unlawful killing, I am satisfied that that is the correct conclusion.

"Mr Bacon was a retired postman and a widow to his wife Edith."

His family said Mr Bacon joined the Territorial Army in 1937, and was called up to the regular Army after the war started two years later.

But he reluctantly told them he volunteered for the top-secret Special Operations Executive but would never give them details of what he did.

At one point, while stationed in Windsor, he was with his wife Edith and saved her from an attacking Luftwaffe plane, grabbing her and diving into a ditch as it screamed towards them.

After leaving the Army in 1946 he worked first as a mechanic then for the Post Office and in a jeweller's before retiring aged 69.

In later years he was a keen amateur artist, and he and Edith received a telegram from the Queen on their 60th anniversary in 2003.

Edith died in 2005 and a plaque was put on a memorial bench not far from Mr Bacon's flat.

Speaking at the time of his death in 2010, his son Philip from Tankerton said: "The mugger is a complete coward who decided picking on a 91-year-old frail old man was easy.

"If we were in the 1940s now he wouldn't have tried it on with my Dad. My Dad would have ripped his head off. He was a very tough and fit soldier."

He added: "He was a very sociable man, he talked to everybody, he was friends with everybody and he helped everybody.

"If someone left their milk out on the doorstep he would always knock on the door and make sure they were OK.

"He had a real community spirit and he always had time for people.

"He had bruising to his shoulder and a broken hip. How could anyone do that to a poor old chap? The attacker went out and shut the door and just left him there.

"If he had asked my dad he would have given him the money, £30 or £40, whatever he wanted it for. There was no need to attack my dad, no need at all.

"He thought the world of the people of Camberwell, he loved the place. But when he was in hospital he said, 'It means nothing to me now'.

"The robber didn't have to do this to my Dad, didn't have to end his life, because that is what he did."

Police believe his mugger, a light-skinned black man in his 30s, attacked another woman on the same estate just half an hour later.

He hit the disabled woman of 66 about the head with her handbag before running off with it.

In an appeal a year after his death, Detective Inspector Richard Beadle, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command said: "Geoffrey was an honest, decent man who had served his country bravely in the Second World War.

"He had worked all his life and had earned the right to a peaceful and safe retirement.

"We have a victim who is an upstanding member of the local community and a decent man.

"He did not deserve to have it taken from him in a cowardly attack by an assailant who undoubtedly made a conscious decision to use extreme force on a frail elderly individual."