A TERRIFIED mother watched in horror as a mugger hurled her three-year-old daughter out of her pram and into the path of oncoming traffic.

The cowardly thief attacked mum-of-one Katie McCartney as she returned to her car after a trip to the bank in Wanstead.

He wrenched her handbag from the side of the buggy, sending the toddler tumbling into the road.

The frightened youngster was left with cuts and bruises to her hands and was trembling with fear, following the vicious attack outside the Cuckfield Pub in Wellington Road.

Ms McCartney, 27, of Hermon Hill, was about to load her daughter into the back of the car when the mugger pounced at about 3.45pm.

She said: "I was totally stunned when this guy came out of nowhere and ripped my bag off the pram, which pulled it up into the air and sent my daughter flying into the road.

Ms McCartney believes the man, who was black and aged about 30, had an accomplice who saw her in the bank, and told her attacker to lay in wait as she returned to the car.

An old school friend of Ms McCartney saw the attack on Friday, November 30 and chased after the thief, slamming him into the bonnet of a parked car as he tried to escape along Wanstead High Street.

The mugger managed to struggle free and raced into Hermon Hill, where an off-duty policewoman continued the pursuit.

The man, who was dressed in a dark hooded top, baggy trousers, and white trainers, is thought to have hidden in a bush before jumping into a waiting vehicle in Cranbourne Avenue.

The mugging was followed on Sunday, December 2, by an attack in Hermon Hill, when an 89-year-old woman had her handbag snatched by a white man in his late 20s, wearing a grey hooded top.

Anyone with information about either incident should call Ilford police station on 8478 1123.