A JOHNSTONE drug addict has been told she will be jailed for a “despicable” attack on a pensioner - after using a ruse to gain access to her home so she could rob her of just £10.

Jemma Cook, 30, was so desperate for her next heroin hit she knocked on the door of a 75-year-old woman and said she was there about her electricity.

But Cook was not there in a professional capacity - and had only gone to the property to steal money to buy drugs.

When the trusting pensioner opened the door, Cook went inside and attacked her - even clamping her hand over her mouth so nobody could hear her screaming.

The details emerged last week when Cook appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting and robbing the pensioner in her home in Auchmannoch Avenue, Paisley, on October 8 last year.

A charge that she had also stolen money, a mobile phone and a SIM card from a property in the town’s Netherhill Road was dropped.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Fiona Holligan told the court that Cook had got a lift to Paisley from Johnstone from a friend, claiming she was going to visit family.

She then directed him to the street where the offence took place, in the town’s Ralston area.

Defence solicitor Michael McKeown said: “Miss Cook accepts it was a disgraceful offence. 

“She has accepted her guilt. She has experienced problems with addiction.”

Sheriff Colin Pettigrew then told Cook she will be jailed  when sentenced next month.

He said: “It will be a custodial sentence - the only issue is whether they’ll be a Supervised Release Order attached to that.”