A YOUNG mother-to-be has told of her ordeal after she was mugged in the street by someone she had known since their schooldays.

The woman - carrying twins and 30-weeks pregnant - was shoved to the ground and had her shoulder bag snatched by Jordan Easton.

She spent more than seven hours in hospital as worried doctors could find no movement in her womb and had to carry out two scans.

Easton, 20, later contacted her on Facebook and said: "I know how it looked, but it wasn't like that. I hope the babies are okay."

The victim suffered a cut hand, bruising to her left side, damage to her shoulder and frightening stomach pains, a court was told.

She said: "I can't believe Jordan attacked me when he knew I was heavily pregnant. We have been friends for years. I'm stunned.

"Any person, whether they are a parent or not, can appreciate how scary this would be . . . I was petrified to leave the house."

Easton, of Georgina Close, Thornaby, was jailed for 30 months at Teesside Crown Court, after admitting robbery and other offences.

The mugging was in the midst of a two-month crime spree which his barrister, Duncan McReddie, described as "an outbreak of offending".

Mr McReddie told Judge Michael Taylor that Easton was high on illegally-obtained prescription drugs over the summer.

In June, he was caught on CCTV causing more than £1,000 damage to three cars parked in Cromwell Terrace, Thornaby, at 5.30am.

The July robbery was followed by a burglary at a bedsit in Hartington Road, Stockton, as the occupant slept just feet away.

The victim woke to find the intruder - who fled with money, tobacco, ID document and medication - rifling through his drawers.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh said security staff caught Easton on a stairwell in the flats complex and "persuaded" him to return the items.

Later that day, he booked a taxi to take him home from the town centre, but fled without paying the £3.20 fare, said Miss Haigh.

Easton admitted three charges of criminal damage, robbery, burglary and making off without payment - all in breach of a suspended sentence.

Judge Taylor told him that he would have got between four-and-a-half and five years if he was sentenced individually.

But he said: "It seems to me that would be manifestly unfair, given your age and this will be your first custodial sentence."