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A woman attacked a pensioner as he walked home with his shopping after he refused to give her money. Selima Bowman was living on the streets when she approached a 76-year-old man outside
Tesco in London Road, Leicester city centre, and asked for £10. He said no, and went into the store after withdrawing £200 in cash. He left seven minutes later with two bags of shopping and
Bowman followed him up Regent Street, a sikde road opposite the store. She grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against a wall two or three times before rifling through his pockets,
finding his wallet and leaving with it. It contained more than £400 in cash as well as his disability pass, bank cards and other valuables. READ MORE: TEENAGER ACCUSED OF STABBING MAN TO
DEATH IN LEICESTER APPEARS IN COURT Six days later, Bowman, who had recently been evicted from a Probation Service managed flat in London Road, was trespassing in Elizabeth House, in the
same area of the city, and got into a lift with a 79-year-old man who she tried to rob, pushing him against the side of the lift and going through his pockets while trying to grab onto his
throat. The lift stopped and another man intervened, forcing Bowman to flee empty handed. About two weeks later, she walked into a freight company office in the same area and had to be
restrained by the business manager after she walked into the staff room and started rummaging through a bag and the pockets of a jacket. She was later arrested by Leicestershire Police, and
subsequently pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery and burglary. She appeared at Leicester Crown Court today (Tuesday, May 3) for sentencing. The court heard that Bowman, 36, had a
long criminal record including previous terms in prison for offences of burglary, robbery and assaults on emergency workers. Judge Timothy Spencer KC said it was clear Bowman had been
"targeting old people", and said the Regent Street victim, seen on a CCTV clip from outside Tesco, was "not nimble on his feet". The court heard that the lift attack
victim had "cried for a very long time" after the incident. In his victim statement, he said he had arthritic knees and had been unable to fight Bowman off. Rebecca Barrowcliffe,
representing Bowman, said her client came to the UK from Kenya with her mother at the age of 12 but was forced out of their home after getting pregnant at the age of 15 and refusing to have
an abortion. She turned to prostitution and took heroin and cocaine. She now has four children, aged eight, 13, 14 and 19, all of whom are in care, the court was told. Ms Barrowcliffe said
drink and drug-induced psychosis had led to delusions. Ms Barrowcliffe said: "She believes she is a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. She had offended to support herself and to buy
drugs. "She was also forced to work as a prostitute to fund her partner's habit. She does still have aspirations for the future when she is released. I ask for your honour to make
[the sentence] as short as possible." Judge Spencer told Bowman: "I'm not without sympathy for you. You had a very unfortunate life and a lot of it, to start with, was not
your fault. "Life has been hard for you and at various times you've ended up on the streets, you've worked as a prostitute, you've had four children who have all been
taken away from you and you've been the victim of at least one bad man. "But none of that excuses your offending. It gets worse and worse over the years. "You were fortunate
to be given probation accommodation and messed that up and were turned out. You targeted two elderly gentlemen." The judge said the offences were "really traumatic" for the
men. He jailed Bowman for four years and six months.