A 76-year-old woman is fighting for her life after suffering serious head injuries when a mugger snatched her handbag.

Police are now hunting the man who stole just £90 from the woman on Saturday.

The elderly woman was walking in St Andrew's Road, Croydon, at around 5.55pm when a man grabbed her handbag, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.

She was taken to a south London hospital and was initially stable but her condition worsened, and as the Guardian went to press she was in a life-threatening condition.

Police want to trace the woman's handbag and are urging anyone who was in the area between 5pm and 6pm to contact them.

Detective Inspector Nick Downing said: "It is possible that the suspect had targeted her as a lone, vulnerable woman. The place where the robbery happened is a short, quiet residential street and it's possible the suspect had followed her from wherever she had been previously.

"We do not know where the victim had been before she was attacked. She was not carrying any shopping that would reveal her whereabouts."

The woman is white, of medium to stocky build, with grey, curly hair and was wearing glasses. She was wearing a cream, hooded coat and a pale brown skirt.

Her attacker, who ran off towards Lower Coombe Street, is described as a black man, 5ft 8in, wearing a dark hooded top and bottoms.

This is the second violent mugging in Croydon in under a week.

Last Monday, a 51-year-old disabled woman was attacked and mugged at her great-grandmother's grave in Queen's Road cemetery in Thornton Heath.

Moira Walters, a retired nurse from Norfolk, was leaning over a grave stone when she was grabbed from behind.

She was punched in the face and suffered a bruised neck while the two robbers wrenched the rings from her fingers, including her wedding ring.

Mrs Walters, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said: "This was the last place I expected to be attacked.

"They took my rings and watch. I put up quite a fight which is probably why they punched me in the face. They were holding my neck so tight my airway was blocked so I had to stop fighting. I walk with a cane so it was obvious that I am disabled. These people are disgusting."

One of the men wore a black hooded top and gloves.

Anyone with information about either crime should call the South Norwood robbery squad on 020 8649 1217 or Crimestoppers, free and anonymously, on 0800 555 111.