AN ELDERLY woman was cast adrift after vandals cut the ropes to her canal boat which left her floating on the Worcester and Birmingham canal.

Amanda Huxtable fears she was targeted because she is 'elderly and alone' after hearing someone walking on her boat at night.

She was docked at Blockhouse Lock near Worcester city centre when her boat suddenly began to float along the canal.

She said the thought of someone being out on the canal towpath with a knife was a "scary" thought.

Amanda said: "It is clear that someone has cut the ropes with a knife or sharp object.

"There were two other boats near me with nobody aboard. I concluded that I was targeted because I was alone and elderly.

"The scariest thing is that someone must have been walking around with a knife. It was clearly pre-meditated.

"If I would have been out there at the wrong time I could have been stabbed."

READ MORE: Emergency services on Worcester Bridge looking for person in water

At around midnight, Amanda heard somebody on the boat, so she went out to investigate what the sound was.

She said: "I heard someone around midnight, not long after I had gone to bed.

I could not get out there quick enough but by the time I had, I was heading towards the other bank of the canal.

"I was tied to big iron rigs on the side of the bank so there was no way it had miraculously come loose, it was clear the ropes had been cut.

"I had to use my phone torch in the middle of the night to try and get my boat back to the bank.

"The ropes were brand new so I had to go out and replace them again for £60."

Amanda also said she had been at the same spot on the canal before and had never experienced any issues.

She said: "I have never had any issues there before. it is a residential area which is what makes it more shocking.

"It is just a mindless act of vandalism and people can be injured."

READ MORE: ‘Stag party’ sink canal boat in Droitwich lock

Amanda previously had issues earlier this year when a stag party on a canal boat rammed into the side of her boat.

The same stag later sunk another boat in Droitwich which made headlines across the UK.