A MUGGER who attacked a woman in a busy street in broad daylight was jailed for more than three years after being branded "disgraceful" by a judge.

Drug addict and former soldier Anthony Dewing said his victim owed him money after he lent her a bike and she sold it, Teesside Crown Court heard.

He went with the woman to a shop in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, where she withdrew cash – but once outside, he attacked her and stole £210.

The victim went to the ground, and the pair were involved in a lengthy tussle at around 10am on June 22, prosecutor Rachel Masters told the court.

Camera footage seemed to show people walking past without intervening, and Judge Sean Morris criticised a taxi driver who was parked right on the scene.

Eventually, a passer-by followed Dewing through a number of streets, saw him go into a house, phoned the police and returned to help the woman.

The judge praised the member of the public for his actions, but told 35-year-old Dewing: "It was demeaning, it was unpleasant, it was violent. It was a disgraceful attack on a woman. You don't go around wrestling a female to the ground, causing her to become dishevelled in public."

The court heard how the victim was left with grazes and scrapes to her knuckles, elbows, and knees and left wrist and right hand, and aching from resisting.

Andrew Turton, mitigating, admitted it was "an unpleasant incident", but said is was an impulsive act when he thought he would not get all of his cash.

Dewing, of Grange Road, Middlesbrough, served with the Green Howard's for almost five years after leaving school, but was kicked out for ill-discipline.

The court heard that he was jailed for five years after a court martial for robbery in 2005, and got one year and four months for an assault.