The family of a 96-year-old grandmother is furious that the man who brutally attacked her in her Bow home in 2004 could be granted unsupervised day release.

Terrance Joseph submitted Annie Hendrick, then 89, to a terrifying attack while trying to rob her Old Ford Road maisonette, leaving police officers and her grandson, David Horne, fearing she was dead.

The violent burglar received a life sentence in 2005 to serve a minimum of eight-and-a-half years, cut to six on appeal in 2006, but Mr Horne, 45, was contacted by Victim Support on Monday and told the repeat offender is applying for day releases.

Mr Joseph, aged 40 at the time of his appeal in June 2006, has been moved to a secure unit but the Department of Health was unable to confirm which mental health trust he now falls under.

Mr Horne said: “I think it’s despicable and I think something should be done. I want it stopped. “

Annie was in hospital for six months, having suffered a broken jaw and nose and fractured cheekbones and eye sockets.

She now requires 24-hour care from her daughter Phyllis Horne, 72 and suffers from dementia.

Ms Horne said: “She’s deteriorated terribly.

“It’s so wrong, he shouldn’t be let out at all.

“I’m worried in case he comes round here because I wouldn’t know him if he stood in front of me in the street. I didn’t go to the trial because I was looking after nan.”

A council carer found Annie at her ransacked home after the attack, sitting with her head covered in blood before she was rushed to the Royal London Hospital.

Mr Horne said he thought she would die.

The Court of Appeal heard in 2006 that Mr Joseph had a long criminal record including a five-year stretch for robbing an elderly man in a wheelchair.