A senior police chief said there is no justification for the "callous and cowardly attack" on an elderly and vulnerable woman in her own home.
A murder investigation has been launched after masked raiders forced their way into the woman's home on Grayson Avenue in Pakefield, Lowestoft and stole her handbag.
The two masked men broke into victim's home at some point overnight between Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25.
They knocked the woman - who was in her 80s - to the ground and stole a handbag before fleeing, leaving her injured and "helpless on the floor."
She was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston for treatment, but died two days after she had been injured by robbers.
As a murder probe is launched, the chief inspector of Lowestoft police, Sarsfield Donohue, said: "It's a really upsetting incident, it's tragic.
"But the thing to remember is incidents like this in Lowestoft, in Pakefield, are exceptionally rare - really, really exceptionally rare.
"I do understand that people will be nervous or have feelings of being unsafe in their own homes.
"But just to reassure the public, in addition to the specialist teams that they will see at the moment and the teams supporting them while they do the investigation, there are also specialist teams supporting the family throughout.
"Apart from all of that, local residents can expect to see additional patrols from local police officers - police officers from Lowestoft police station - being stepped up over the coming days and coming weeks.
"These are officers who live and work in Lowestoft, so they are part of the community.
"They are officers who live in that area themselves so they know the area, they know the people and they are as much invested in the area as the local residents are.
"So, they will be carrying out high profile patrols in the coming days and weeks.
"If people have got any concerns or anything they are unsure about, or something we would like reassurance on, please speak to the officers."
Recounting the weekend's events, chief insp Donohue said: "We got called to the address just before 2pm on Saturday, March 25.
"An elderly woman was found lying on the floor of her house.
"We believe the incident happened at sometime late on Friday evening into the early hours of Saturday morning.
"The circumstances, we understand, is that we believe she has heard a noise at her door and she has gone to the door where she has been confronted by two masked males - as she has described them - and they have forced entry into the home and knocked her to the ground.
"Her handbag was stolen.
"They have then left her there lying and helpless on the floor until she was found by her family just before we got called on Saturday.
"She was conscious, but she was in a serious condition and she was taken to the JPUH for treatment, but sadly she died in the early hours of Monday.
"So, initially we'd treated this as a robbery.
"However, in order to establish the full circumstances surrounding her death, it is now being treated as murder.
"The post mortem examination was held yesterday (Monday), but the exact cause of death has yet to be ascertained.
"We are awaiting further tests which are ongoing at this time.
"The family were trying to make contact, as they normally would, and obviously they couldn't reach her so they went around to the address and found her inside on the floor.
"She was conscious and breathing and was able to speak to them, but unfortunately her condition deteriorated and she was quite ill, so she was conveyed to hospital.
"The times are fairly fluid at the moment while we carry out further investigations.
"What we do know is that the handbag that was taken from Grayson Avenue was found abandoned and discarded within Nelson Road.
"However the purse is still missing from the bag. So what we are looking for is a black and white chequered design purse and its contents.
"We are asking the public if you have CCTV, or doorbell footage and you live in those areas then if you haven't already spoken to us - and thank you to those that have come forward already - then we would love to speak to you.
"Any drivers that might have dashcam footage and were driving along London Road South in either a north or south direction between 6pm on Friday evening and 7am on Saturday morning if they could also make contact please.
"The description (of the robbers) came from the lady herself in conversation with her family and the officers who attended, and that is all we have, hence the CCTV trawl and requests for dashcam footage.
"We are looking for two males wearing face coverings, however if you were out and about during those hours - and it might have been you saw something completely and totally innocuous and you did not think of it at the time - please come forward.
"Again, any other unusual goings on, unusual occurences that you disregaded at the time please come and speak to us it might be relevant no matter how small it is.
"The assumption would be that they have left Grayson Avenue and gone in the general direction of Nelson Road, so they would have crossed London Road Pakefield at some point to get into Nelson Road where the handbag has been discarded.
"So if you saw someone walking along with a handbag that you thought was unusual at the time, or if you saw someone hanging around Nelson Road in the hours of darkness and they were wearing face coverings please speak to us.
"It is a major investigation.
"If you look at the whole team, everything together and the whole effort - you are talking about specialist units, the major investigations team, other proactive units that have been drawn from across the county to come in and support the house-to-house inquiries, the CCTV work.
"Then you've got the specialist units from headquarters and that is before you even look at the local units.
"It was a callous and cowardly attack on an elderly and vulnerable woman in her own home and you can't justify that.
"We would appeal to the public that this could have been anybody's elderly relative that has been targeted and we will do eveyrthing we can to catch and convict the persons responsible - but we do need the public's help.
"All we know, as she said to us, she heard a noise and went to investigate it and they barged in and she has been knocked.
"She remained lying on the floor for some time afterwards.
"The last 24 hours - within the initial trawl of the CCTV and doorbell footage, and identifying who has the cameras and where they are positioned - it is early days.
"There is a lot of work being undertaken at the moment to get the footage and then you have to review that, so it does take time.
"While it is a tragic incident, it is very isolated for the wider Lowestoft area.
"We don't get this sort of offence happening with any regularity, thankfully, but again be reassured that we have got patrols in place and they will continue over the coming days and weeks."
Information should be directed to the Major Investigation Team, preferably using the online portal, or by calling 101 quoting the crime reference number 37/17537/23.
Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers completely anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via the online form.
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