At just 10-months-old little Sarah Ali has become Britain's youngest victim of yob culture.

She was left battered and bruised by a teenage drunk who tried to snatch her from her pushchair.

When he failed to free her straps he launched an attack that left her mother fearing for her life.

Sarah was punched repeatedly in the stomach and then in the face, leaving her cut and bruised.

The incident in Middlesbrough shocked police who today have launched an urgent hunt for the attacker, aged between 14 and 16.

Sarah was being taken home just 20 yards by her mother Yasmin, 28, who had been visiting her mother-in-law in the same street.

The mum-of-two tried to wheel her daughter out of the way when the teenager came staggering down the street towards her.

But he lurched at the pushchair, grabbing Sarah and trying to drag her free of the buckled straps holding her in place.

Yasmin said: "He was not shouting or yelling, he was clearly drunk or on drugs but he was calm and determined.

"He said "I am going to take the baby" and reached down and began pulling at her.

"I was screaming and yelling and trying to knock his hands away from the straps, I was hitting him but it had no effect.

"When he couldn't free the straps he started to get angry and was becoming more and more forceful.

"He started punching Sarah in the stomach over and over and shouting at her. "I couldn't see whether he had something in his hand, I really thought he was stabbing her and that my little girl was going to die.

"At first she didn't cry, I saw her tilt her head back and look at me, her face was just filled with shock she must have had no idea what was happening to her.

"Even though she was looking for me and needed me so badly I didn't dare try to get her out of the pushchair.

"I wanted to pick her up and cling onto her but I knew if I did that there was more chance he would pull her out of my arms and run away with her.

"So I had to leave her in the chair as he attacked her and try to fight him off.

"At one stage he was pulling so hard at the straps that the whole pushchair was off the ground.

"In the end he got frustrated and lashed out at her face with his fist. He punched her twice, hard.

"This time Sarah just screamed, the shock and the pain must have been so frightening for her.

"After he had punched her he ran away and I was able to grab her. Her eye was cut and her face swelled up straight away."

Yasmin raised the alarm and Sarah was rushed to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where her injuries were treated.

The tot was initially in a state of shock and her silence concerned her parents and doctors.

But today she was back home and playing normally, apparently none the worse for her ordeal.

Yasmin, who is married to Zafran, 27, an Npower operations manager and has a son Khayyam, six, said: "Who could do that to a helpless little baby? it is frightening.

"He was unsteady on his feet and clearly on drink or drugs and was only young himself, not much more than a boy.

"I was only going a few yards to my own home and couldn't even do that without someone trying to steal my baby and attacking her.

"It has left me very disillusioned about people and scared about what could happen.

"Every time Sarah made a sound through the night I was up checking on her but she seems alright.

"I just hope that as she is so young the memory of this won't stay with her and she will be none the worse for it.

"I want this person caught, I would hate anyone else to suffer what Sarah and I did."

Det Constable Sonja Whittingham of Cleveland police said: "This was a dangerous and frightening attack.

"We need to find this lad quickly, he seemed determined to get the baby out of her pushchair.

"He was unsteady on his feet and if anyone knows who he is they must call us as a matter of urgency."

The attacker was white, aged 14- 16, of thin build, had slight stubble and was wearing a grey tracksuit with white stripes down the sleeves.

The attack happened at 9pm on Wednesday night on Borough Road in Middlesbrough at its junction with Somerset Street.