A VICIOUS thief hit a pregnant woman in the face and snatched her laptop as she sat on a railway station platform.

Kieran Blunden has been jailed for seven years for the shocking attack at Littlehaven station in June last year.

This is not his first brush with the law.

In May, 2019, he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for the “diabolical” crime of stealing charity tins from two Horsham sites.

Just one month later he was offending again.

At 5.10pm on June 28, he approached the pregnant woman on the platform at Littlehaven Station and swiped the laptop she was using from her grasp.

When she tried to take her computer back, he hit her in the face and ran away with it tucked under his arm.

The Argus:

Tripping over his own feet, he scrambled over the train tracks and vaulted a nearby level crossing before disappearing into a nearby residential street.

Police looked at CCTV footage from the station and soon recognised Blunden, given his previous dealings with the law.

In the early hours of June 30, 2019, he was arrested for the offence.

He was not hard to find as he was already in police custody over another, unrelated matter.

The Argus:

Blunden, of Honeysuckle Walk in Horsham, pleaded guilty to robbery at Lewes Crown Court on September 25 this year.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison, made up of a four-year custodial sentence and 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.

The Argus:

“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.”