THE mother of a drug addict burglar has said sorry to her daughter’s frail 73-year-old victim.

Jean Powell said she was disgusted by the actions of her daughter, Simone, who was jailed for trying to steal from the pensioner as she suffered an angina attack.

Powell was jailed for 16 months after she tricked her way into the Halliwell home of 73-year-old Kathleen Higgins and tried to steal from her.

The 30-year-old refused to leave, even when she was begged to by the terrified pensioner as she suffered an angina attack.

Now, Mrs Powell, aged 61, of Astley Bridge, has said her daughter deserved her prison term.

She said: “I just want to express how sorry I am to the lady.

“Simone deserves the sentence for what she has done.

“I knew she had done something but I didn’t know what. I honestly can’t imagine why she did it.

“I can’t believe it. If I could get hold of her I would just shake her.”

Bolton Crown Court heard how Powell called at Mrs Higgins’ home on March 14 and claimed her son had accidentally kicked a ball into her garden.

Mrs Higgins offered to get it, but Powell followed her inside and then asked to use the toilet. As the pensioner searched for the ball, Powell walked into her bedroom and began rummaging through a chest of drawers.

Mrs Higgins caught Powell and confronted her.

She told her to leave but Powell refused and continued asking for cash, even as Mrs Higgins almost fainted and had to grab on to her for support.

After telling Powell to leave more than 10 times, the pensioner finally got her to the front door.

But even then, as Mrs Higgins began clutching her chest in pain during an angina attack, Powell refused to give up, and asked the pensioner for money.

She left empty handed after the pensioner told her she did not have any cash.

Powell, of Draycott Street East, was arrested the next day and admitted burglary.

She has a criminal record dating back 15 years.

Her mother said: “It is the drugs taking over her.

“She is just lost in the drugs at the moment.

“It is up to her to get clean.

I am so stressed and can’t sleep. I am so upset about what she has done to that old lady.

“I went to the grave of my husband Oliver, to tell him what Simone did.”

Mother-of-six Mrs Powell hopes prison will be the wake-up call her daughter need to get her life back on track.

She said: “I am happy she is in prison because she will get looked after. She will have woken up clean, without drugs.

“She wanted to do beauty courses. She was a smashing girl and a great mum.

“She had her own little home and she was so house proud, she would make you take your shoes off before you stepped in.

“It all went downhill.”