Mugger pounced on mum in Hartlepool supermarket car park while her two young children were in the car

Jamie Lee Williams, 28, threw his arms around the victim in a bear hug like grip after spotting her purse in her hand in Asda car park on Marina Way.

The woman had just used the cash point and was returning to her children aged four and one in her car nearby.

After a brief struggle Williams managed to grab the purse and ran off.

The incident at about 3.45pm on Sunday, August 18, last year, was caught on CCTV.

Williams, who was dependant on drugs at the time, was due to stand trial at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday, November 25, but pleaded guilty to robbery and was jailed for three years.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said: “She put the money in her purse and walked back to the car.

"A man she later identified as the defendant stumbled into her.

“The defendant reaches around the complainant. There is a struggle between them with the two tussling over the purse.

"She says she repeatedly screamed ‘no’. It took place in broad daylight in full view of all the shoppers and drivers using the car park.”

The purse, which contained sentimental photos, was never found.

In a statement by the victim read in court she said she was left with thoughts of ‘what if’ afterwards.

She said: "It practically happened right in front my car. Heaven forbid my daughter or baby got out of the car with me.

“I held on to my purse as long as I could.

“My four-year-old asks every day if the man who stole Mam’s purse has gone to jail.”

Williams had only been out of prison for about five months after being released early from a six-year robbery sentence.

Jonathan Harley, said in mitigation, that Williams was in the grip of a crack cocaine addiction at the time and was camping at Crimdon Dene to avoid people in the drugs world.

Mr Harley said Williams, of Conway Avenue, Billingham, had given up drugs since recently becoming a grandfather.

Jailing him, Judge Deborah Sherwin said: "When you are released you will need to take steps to make sure you don’t slide back into drugs again.”

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