A murder hunt was underway today as a pensioner died in hospital after being mugged for her handbag in a west London street.
The 85-year-old woman was knocked to the ground by two teenage robbers in an alleyway in Greenford yesterday afternoon.
The woman, who has not been named, was taken to hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries but her condition deteriorated and she died in hospital in the early hours.
Scotland Yard is expected to launch a murder inquiry today.
Witnesses said the woman was using the alleyway - which lies between Coston Primary School and Farndale Crescent - to get home.
She is understood to have been pushing a trolley when she was mugged in the residential area in broad daylight yesterday afternoon.
One woman, who did not want to be named, said she heard that the woman was attacked by two boys who were on the look out for vulnerable pedestrians.
She said: "I heard that two boys were on the railings casually watching. She went to go up the alley then the two boys followed her and mugged her.
"There's no way out of the alley, she could only go up or down, it's disgusting.
"I help a lot of people up that alley, it's sad. I had to knock on three people's doors today to check they were ok.
"These two schools here, every parent and child uses the alley. One girl a while ago got her phone taken from her. "
A worker at the school told how she saw the woman after the incident covered in blood sitting in a police car.
She said: "I saw her in the police car yesterday, her face was covered in blood.
"I was walking from a Tesco with my headphones in and saw the police car.
"When I went into the school to say what had happened but they already knew.
"I think she had a trolley, it was in the alleyway."
The whole of Farndale Crescent and the alleyway were today cordoned off by police.
Residents said parents and children at the school regularly use the alleyway but that they were scared to use it now after the attack.
A Met spokesman said police were called at about 3.50pm yesterday to an alleyway off Oldfield Lane, Greenford following reports of a robbery.
Officers and paramedics raced to the scene and found the woman who was conscious but had suffered what appeared to be minor injuries.
She was taken to a west London hospital but later transferred to a hospital in central London where she died at 2.14am.
The woman lived in Greenford and her next of kin have been informed.
A post-mortem examination is due to be held in the next few days to establish how she died.
Scotland Yard said the Homicide and Serious Crime Command had been informed of the death.
There have been no arrests.
The murder comes amid a surge in the number of robberies and thefts of pedestrians in London.
