Church leaders and members of the congregation have come forward to support the 85-year-old woman after the attack, which happened as she was walking home from Sunday mass at St Faith's Church in Crasswell Street, Landport, Portsmouth.

The woman's friends within the congregation and members of the clergy have visited her at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham where she is undergoing treatment.

Mother Charlotte Hetherington, from the parish, said: 'The congregation is rallying around the woman and they will certainly do all they can for her.

'She is being visited and looked after. The congregation are holding her in their prayers and will be continuing to do so.'

The pensioner's son, who lives in Canada, has been told of his mother's plight.

The dedicated Christian, who attended services regularly, was pushed to the ground and had her handbag stolen in a pathway just yards from the church door.

She suffered a fractured hip and was yesterday due to undergo surgery.
The robbery happened in a pathway leading from the church to Northam Street at about 11am on Sunday.

The woman's handbag, containing her purse and keys, was stolen.
It was later found, emptied of its contents, in a park just yards away.
The incident has left pensioners living next door to the church shocked and fearful.

Fellow churchgoer, grandmother Brenda Hart, 67, of Crasswell Street, said: 'It happened at 11 o'clock in the morning.
'This is what put the wind up me. You don't expect it to happen at that time of day. I don't feel safe.'

Detective Constable Dan Sanzen-Baker from Ports-mouth CID said up to eight detectives were involved in the police investigation.

He said: 'Because of the woman's age and the sort of injuries she has got this is very serious.

'It's being dealt with at the top level like any robbery of an elderly person – but particularly with it happening at that time of day.'

Scenes of crimes officers have carried out a forensic examination of the scene and police are to scour CCTV cameras in the area in the hope the culprit was caught on camera.