A heroin addict who killed a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor in a violent mugging as she walked to church has been jailed for 15 years.
Artur Waszkiewicz, 40, grabbed pensioner Zofija Kaczan from behind and stole her handbag as she walked to a church service in Normanton, Derby on May 28 last year.
Ms Kaczan, who survived a Nazi death camp in the Second World War, suffered multiple injuries as a result, including a broken neck and fractured cheekbone.
Her condition later deteriorated and she died from pneumonia last June.
Waszkiewicz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the tragic street robbery at Derby Crown Court today.
Astonishingly, during the trial it emerged that committed Christian Ms Kaczan, who was interned at a death camp because of her Polish roots, had prayed for her attacker as she lay on deathbed.
100-year-old Zofija Kaczan was attacked in the street in Derby last year and died in hospital
Artur Waszkiewicz was yesterday convicted of both manslaughter and robbery. He showed no emotion yesterday as the verdicts were read out. He is pictured, right, making his escape
Ms Kaczan, who survived a Nazi death camp, suffered a broken neck and fractured cheekbone
It took a jury just over two hours to convict Waszkiewicz of both manslaughter and robbery yesterday. He showed no emotion and looked straight ahead as the verdicts were delivered.
Addressing the jury, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: 'The sentence will inevitably be one of lengthy imprisonment. Mr Waszkiewicz knows that.'
Waszkiewicz was caught on CCTV driving a Seat Leon car he bought from his father minutes before robbing Ms Kaczan - slowing down as soon as he saw a 'small, vulnerable' woman on her own.
He needed an 'easy target' to steal from so he could meet a drug dealer a short time later to buy £20 of heroin.
The force he used ripped the handle off the handbag, inflicting significant bruising on Ms Kaczan's arm.
CCTV showed Ms Kaczan leaving her home minutes before she was brutally attacked
She walked down the street on her way to church, while Waszkiewicz looked for a victim
She crossed the street where she was attacked as Waszkiewicz pulled up behind her
Police found that the attack itself was only visible in a reflection on a window of a nearby house
Opening the case, prosecutor Kate Brunner QC said: 'She was attacked, she was thrown to the ground and her handbag was snatched from her.
'She was small, on her own, vulnerable - an easy target for a man desperate for money.
'He attacked Ms Kaczan, yanking her handbag from her and leaving her injured in the road and driving off.'
Police arrested Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, after his fingerprint was recovered from a receipt in the bag.
He fled the city and hid under a bed at his mother's house in London to try to avoid arrest.
He
