A robber who grabbed a woman’s handbag in West Wickham has been jailed after a member of the public punched and chased him down.

Claudio Andres Figueroa-Rios, 24, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at Croydon Crown Court on June 5 and was given a 10-month sentence.

On May 19 he snatched the victim’s bag as she was going into the HSBC bank in West Wickham High Street and tried to run off.

But a member of the public intervened, hitting Figueroa-Rios and causing him to let go of the stolen goods.

The robber was then chased to a nearby pub and restrained until the police arrived.

Figueroa-Rios, a Chilean national, had only been in the country a month when he committed the crime, having let his return ticket lapse while staying in Peckham.