A PENSIONER ended up on the ground after a female mugger snatched her bag.

Phylis Edwards, 78, struggled to hold onto her handbag after she was targeted by Musu Kamara, in Wickham Road, West Wickham, on January 16.

Kamara, aged 34, of Barrow Road, Croydon, pleaded guilty to robbery at Croydon Crown Court and was jailed for two years on March 1.

Mrs Edwards, of West Wickham, kept a grip on her bag for as long as she could but was eventually thrown to the floor, said prosecutor Hamish Reid.

Robert Canavan, mitigating, said Kamara, a mother of three children aged three, 12 and 17, had been a heroin and cocaine addict for several years.

He said: "She thought she was committing a simple theft but she caused the woman to fall over and it turned into a robbery.

"Her behaviour seems to be entirely due to her drug intake."

Kamara was said to have 30 previous offences on her record, mainly for shoplifting, with two for common assault and one for assaulting a police officer.