FOUR young girls who were blamed for a horrific attack on a woman pensioner were praised last night as ''angels''.
The girls, two aged seven and the others aged 10, were alleged to have battered Miss Mary McCoy and tried to steal a ring from her finger, leaving the woman bruised and bleeding.
But last night it emerged the girls, who have been traced by police, only helped the confused pensioner home after she had fallen in the street.
Far from being young thugs who carried out a vicious assault, the caring foursome proudly told teachers of how they helped an old lady home and even made her a get-well card in class.
Police who interviewed the friends were so impressed by their actions that they are to recommend the four for an award.
A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: ''These girls are absolute angels.
''They have been up to 90 since hearing they were being blamed, but they have been interviewed and they are anything but thugs.
''They did a marvellous job and their parents should be proud, and we are happy to set the record straight.
''All of them have been eliminated from any form of criminal act and their behaviour, which was commendable, had only the best interests of Miss McCoy at heart.''
Miss McCoy, 69, who could remember little of what happened, said she was relieved to find the girls had been acting as Good Samaritans.
She said: ''It is wonderful to know that they were only trying to help me, and it is very comforting that they were looking after me.
''I am sorry if they have been unfairly blamed and I am angry about that because I never accused them. I can remember seeing them in the street but that is all.''
Police who investigated the alleged assault believed Miss McCoy had been attacked because she was seen in the company of a group of young girls and she had suffered severe bruising to the face and a nasty cut to her finger.
It was thought the finger injury was caused in a bid to pull a ring from her finger, and the bruising was a result of being kicked in the face.
However, it now appears her injuries were caused by the first fall and another in her flat once the girls had seen her home to Elgin Street, Edinburgh.
Witnesses who heard of the attack came forward and it emerged that an adult had asked the group of girls to help Miss McCoy home after she had fallen.
They used her keys to enable her to get in to her flat but once inside the friends heard an almighty crash as the woman fell in the hallway.
Panicking, and unable to assist, the girls rang her bell in a bid to rouse the woman but a neighbour who came out to see what the commotion was about told the girls to go away.
Miss McCoy, a retired confectionery factory supervisor, lay for another four hours before she was able to crawl to bed. The next morning, after a friend visited, the police were called in because it was thought she had been attacked.
She added: ''I only remember speaking to four girls as I got home, and after that my memory is a complete blank.
''I have had quite a few falls recently and the doctors think it may be caused by my diabetes. I may have been told I fell but I just can't remember.''
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