Grandson Ashley Aitcheson, 31, who was inside the house, said he heard his grandmother shouting in "distress" at around 5pm on August 23 and raced out in his boxer shorts and bare feet.

He managed to punch the robber and break his aviator sunglasses during the chase, but said he "knew all the little side streets" and managed to get away.

Mrs Roberts, whose 101st birthday was on Wednesday, said: "I'm a bit shaky. When I'm coming in the house now I'm afraid because of this wicked man."

Grand-daughter Jacqueline McIntosh said she has complained to police because she feels the investigation has not progressed and was told by a detective the case had "slipped through the net".

She said the family now have to take shifts to be in the house with her grandmother as "being attacked like that changes things".