Horsham man who hit pregnant woman and stole her laptop jailed
The attack happened at a West Sussex railway station
A Horsham man, branded a 'cowardly thug' after stealing a pregnant woman's laptop and hitting her in the face, has been jailed for seven years.
30-year-old Kieran Blunden, of Honeysuckle Walk, carried out the shocking incident at Littlehaven railway station on June 28th last year.
At 5.10pm that day, Blunden, 29 at the time, approached a pregnant woman who was seated at the station and snatched the laptop she was using out of her hands.
The woman tried to take the laptop back, but Blunden struck her in the face to stop her and ran away.
Blunden headed down the platform, jumped over level crossing barriers and crossed the tracks in an attempt to get away, falling over in the process.
He got to his feet and was pursued into a residential area by a witness, but got away.
CCTV footage of the incident at Littlehaven station was shared to local police officers resulting in Blunden being identified due to previous dealings with officers.
In the early hours of the morning on Sunday 30th June 2019, Blunden, who was in police custody for an unrelated matter, was arrested for the offence.
Blunden pleaded guilty to robbery on 25 September at Lewes Crown Court and was sentenced the same day to four years in custody with a three-year extension period.
He is also required to pay a victim surcharge of £181.
British Transport Police Detective Constable, Imogen Sweeney, said:
“This was a shocking and brazen incident in broad daylight involving a pregnant woman. We will always pursue offenders carrying out crimes of this nature in the strongest possible terms.
“I would like to thank the victim for her continued support throughout the investigation, as well as the members of the public that came forward. I am grateful to the courts for the strong sentence imposed on the defendant.”