A drifter who posed as a patient on crutches at a hospital to rob a defenceless double amputee the day he woke up from a coma before he pushed his wheelchair into a wall has been jailed.
Liam Dallimore, 29, stole the bankcard of George McEwan-Jones, 67, which he used to spend on cigarettes after the vicious and callous attack.
McEwan-Jones, a father-of-one, had awoken just hours earlier to discover he had lost a leg and was accosted wearing only a surgical gown and sat in a wheelchair outside a WH Smith store at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Liam Dallimore (pictured), 29, stole the bankcard of George McEwan-Jones, 67, which he used to spend on cigarettes after the vicious and callous attack
Dallimore snatched the credit card out of his hands and pushed his wheelchair down a slope into a wall, forcing the victim to use his stump to prevent his face from hitting the brickwork.
As doctors treated the victim's wounds, Dallimore, 29, used the stolen debit card to try and withdraw £270 cash from an ATM before splashing out on cigarettes and getting cashback at a Morrisons supermarket.
In a statement Mr McEwan Jones who lost his right leg to deep vein thrombosis just four years after his left leg had to be amputated said: 'I think it's absolutely diabolical that someone could do this to a man with no legs.
'How am I supposed to defend myself? This person must not have a heart to do such a diabolical thing.'
He added: 'I had just come out of a coma when I was robbed in the Manchester Royal Infirmary. It was the first day I had been awake. I wanted to get a drink because I was so thirsty. Then this man has taken hold of my wheelchair and rammed me into a wall.
Dallimore (pictured) snatched the credit card out of his hands and pushed his wheelchair down a slope into a wall
'When the robber pushed my wheelchair into the wall, I have had to use the stump of my left leg to stop the impact. The wound I suffered was about the size of a 50 pence piece and did not stop bleeding.
'The whole incident affects me to this day. I feel very worried going out to the shops and I have to take medication to help me sleep.'
At Manchester Crown Court, Dallimore, originally from Glasgow and of no fixed abode, was jailed for 45 months after he admitted robbery and fraud by false representation. He refused to leave his cell and was dealt with in his absence.
The robbery at 1.30pm on July 14 this year occurred six weeks after Mr McEwan-Jones, from Salford had been admitted to hospital after collapsing unconscious with DVT.
David Lees prosecuting said: 'He was in a coma for five to six weeks and came out of it to find his right leg had to be amputated. He had already had his left leg amputated sometime earlier.
'Later that day he decided to use his wheelchair to go to the shops as he felt thirsty. he was still in his surgical gown and having no pockets, he sat on his mobile phone, keeping it under his legs.
'He noticed Dallimore loitering outside the entrance to WH Smiths and noticed he was on crutches but not limping. Dallimore approached Mr McEwan-Jones asked him initially for £18 for taxi money then asked to borrow his phone to find out how much a taxi was.
