POLICE are hunting for the mugger who robbed a woman at knifepoint in Wanstead less than six weeks after another attack on the same road.

The 34-year-old had left Snaresbrook station at around 1am on Thursday, March 22, before walking down Wanstead High Street and turning left into Sylvan Road.

She heard footsteps running up behind her and a man's voice. She turned round to see a man clutching a knife who pushed his free hand into her chest and demanded her bag.

She clung onto it but dropped it when the man put the flat edge of the knife on her left shoulder. The man picked it up and turned to walk away but then turned back, held the knife to the woman's face, and demanded her pin number.

She gave him a false number and he ran off towards the station.

On February 12, a 28-year-old man was robbed of equipment including a £1,000 laptop computer, a palmtop computer, a camera, a phone, and his wallet in Sylvan Road by two muggers who chased him down the street.

Despite ducking into a garden and hammering on a door, the muggers caught up with him and robbed him before anyone came to his aid.

Police are looking for a man described as around 20-years-old, 5ft 6ins tall, black, with a stocky build and a three-quarter length khaki coat.

Anyone with information should call DC Neil Bartle in the burglary and robbery squad of Ilford police on 8345 2667.