Michael Winner's widow beaten with iron bar during raid at her home

The widow of the late film director Michael Winner is in hospital after she was beaten with an iron bar during a raid at her home.

Geraldine Winner was attacked after a man and a woman forced their way into her home in Knightsbridge, central London, on Friday night.

Police believe the suspects spent more than three hours at the property and stole a number of items.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers were called to the flat at around 2am on Saturday following a report of aggravated burglary.

He said: "Two suspects - a male and a female - forced their way into the home of a woman in her 70s and assaulted her with an iron bar before stealing a number of items at approximately 10pm on Friday, October 9.

"It is believed the suspects left between 1am and 2am on October 10. The woman was taken to a west London hospital by ambulance and is in a stable condition. Inquiries continue. There have been no arrests."

Mr Winner, who made more than 30 films including the blockbuster Death Wish series, died aged 77 at his home in Kensington in January 2013. He had been nursed by his wife Geraldine following a lengthy battle with liver disease.

After her husband's death, Mrs Winner, a former dancer who he married in 2011, said in a statement: "Michael was a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life."

During his career, Mr Winner reinvented himself as a restaurant critic, writing about food in his typically flamboyant style in his Winner's Dinners column for the Sunday Times.

His appearance in adverts for motor insurance coined the catchphrase "Calm down dear, it's a commercial".

He also founded and funded the Police Memorial Trust following the murder of WPc Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.