A mum today told how a drug addict mugger punched her in the face as he stole her handbag.

Mira Rana was just yards from her home in Belgrave, Leicester, when she was attacked by Jay Sicotray.

He later admitted to police he had attacked the mother-of-two because he needed £10 to buy heroin and was jailed last week for two-and-a-half years.

Mrs Rana, 38, today, said Sicotray had taken something far more precious than her handbag – her confidence.

She said: "It happened in January, but I still get scared sometimes when I leave the house.

"It was just over the road from my home so I cannot avoid the area where I was attacked.

"He attacked me when I was walking home, it was about 1.30 in the afternoon.

"I was nearly at my front door when he stopped his car and asked me the time.

"I felt something was wrong, so I ignored him.

"Then the next thing I knew was that he was standing in front of me trying to get my bag.

"He punched me in the face and I fell to the ground. I don't understand how he could do this to me, how he could hit a woman like that."

The blow to Mrs Rana's left eye did not cause any lasting injury, but she still gets headaches. She has a hospital appointment next week to determine the cause.

Her husband, 44-year-old machine operator Hitendra, said: "I was at work at the time and I came home and our children told me their mum had been injured, punched in the face by a man who robbed her.

"It was horrible, her eye was all bruised and she was very upset.

"This is a nice area, we would not expect something like this to happen so close to our home.

"She still thinks about what this man did to her when she goes out and sees the part of the street where it happened."

The couple, who have two sons, said they were satisfied with the sentence imposed at Leicester Crown Court last week.

Mrs Rana said: "I hope he learns that what he did was wrong and never does anything like this again."

Sicotray, who admitted one offence of robbery when he appeared at Leicester Crown Court last week, was traced by officers who were working undercover in the Belgrave and Rushey Mead area following a series of muggings.

The campaign – codenamed Operation Nation – was launched by officers at Keyham Lane police station after robbery gangs targeted lone women throughout December last year and January.

Mrs Rana described Sicotray's car to police and one officer, Pc Mark Hanson, realised he had seen it earlier.

He recalled part of its registration and passed the details to the force's automatic number plate recognition, (ANPR) team who were also working in the area.

The cameras, which can read a number plate in a split second, picked up Sicotray's car as it left the Belgrave area moments after the attack.

He was arrested at home in Lubbesthorpe Road, Braunstone, a short time later.

Sergeant Wayne Nimblette, who leads the Keyham Lane station's neighbourhood action team which caught Sicotray, said: "We were able to take this man off the streets quickly and that, hopefully, will bring some comfort to his victim.

"He is in prison now and hopefully Mrs Rana will begin to regain her confidence."