Police have revealed that an 85 year old woman who was attacked in her Morningside Grove home on Friday was stabbed and beaten in a sexually motivated assault which left her with life threatening injuries.
The pensioner was discovered by her husband at around 5pm on Friday and was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where she is unconscious in a critical but stable condition.
Speaking at a press conference at former Police Headquarters at Fettes Avenue, Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hardie said the attack is being treated as attempted murder.
He said: “We are satisfied from the injuries sustained by our victim that she had been stabbed on numerous occasions. They are life-threatening injuries without a doubt.
“Her condition is described as critical but stable. She was possibly the victim of a blunt force trauma. She is also displaying injuries which may be consistent with some form of sexual attack.
“As a result of the door-to-door inquiries, we have identified a witness who saw a male standing outside the locus, we believe in the doorway, about 3.30pm on the Friday afternoon.
“That is clearly a crucial time for us because the victim’s husband had left the house at that point, leaving our victim on her own.”
The man is described as aged 18 to 30, of average build with short dark hair. Police are appealing for anyone who can help identify the man to come forward.
“In my experience within the service, I’ve never really heard of anything to this extent, of this nature – an attack on an elderly woman in the safety of her own house, a vicious attack, and plainly an attempt to take her life.”
“We’re dealing with undoubtedly an attempted murder, there’s a potential sexual element to it and we can’t rule out the possibility of a theft. Perhaps the lady has disturbed somebody carrying out a theft or something similar to that.”
Chief Inspector Richard Horan reassured Morningside and Edinburgh residents that extra patrols were being carried out in the area.
He said: “People are obviously concerned for the victim, for their neighbour. I would say that crimes like this are incredibly rare and we will continue to try and reassure the community using every possible avenue.
“We do have extra police officers out on the street, we are able to attend and respond to any concerns people have, we will continue that as long as it takes as we progress the investigation towards detecting and arresting the perpetrator.”
Officers in the area are continuing door-to-door inquiries and CCTV footage in the area is being examined.
Anyone with any information can contact Police Scotland on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
