Robber jailed for attack on woman walking home

Petrica Mustafa, 30, has been jailed for 14 months

A violent robber who attacked a woman as she walked home from work has been jailed for 14 months.

Petrica Mustafa, 30, grabbed his victim, a woman in her 40s, on the Embankment in Peterborough city centre on April 6, and pushed her to the ground, police said.

He snatched her handbag, forcibly pulling it until the strap broke, before running off, leaving the woman in a state of shock.

Mustafa, of St Pauls Road, New England, Peterborough, was charged with robbery and appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, where he was given a prison sentence.

Officers managed to use data from the woman’s Apple Watch to track her mobile phone’s movements, and the case was found discarded on The Embankment underneath a CCTV camera.

Reviews of footage tracked Mustafa and showed him coming out of bushes nearby, where officers later found the woman’s purse and contents of her handbag.

Officers were led to the Lincoln Road area of Millfield, via further phone tracking, where they spotted Mustafa and a woman who confirmed the stolen mobile phone was at their home address.

Det Constable Guiste, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: “While it doesn’t make it any less concerning, I would like to reassure the public that incidents of this nature are rare in Peterborough."

In a statement provided to the courts, the victim said: “At the time of the incident, I was walking home from work – this is something I do daily and have done for years. There has never been a reason for me to feel unsafe whilst doing such a mundane task.

“After the incident, I felt completely sick to my stomach. When I close my eyes, I replay it in my mind. I feel myself looking behind and seeing him walking behind me. I think what could I have done differently to stop this from happening to me?”