A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy was knocked to the ground after his mother fought to stop a robber stealing her handbag.

The woman was taking her son to nursery school after parking up in Beaumaris Road in Toothill.

She was walking towards Oliver Tomkins Infants School when she noticed a man tampering with the passenger door of her blue Renault Espace.

As she and her son hurried back to the car she saw the man had broken into it and removed her leather handbag.

She tried to snatch the handbag out of his hands and the two began a tussle.

During the struggle the little boy fell to the ground while the robber forced the bag out of the woman's grasp and ran off in the direction of the Link Centre.

A police spokeswoman said: "Both mother and child were unhurt but the young boy was extremely upset."

The pink DKNY handbag contained cash, bank and credit cards.

Police say the robber, who struck at around 9am yesterday was male, 6ft tall, of medium build with short dark hair, aged between 25 and 30, wearing a brown leather jacket and blue jeans, and carrying a large multi-coloured umbrella.

Meanwhile, a wheelchair-bound woman says her life has been ruined after she was mugged for the second time in three years.

Norma Miller, 51, was attacked at around 2pm last Friday after she had finished shopping in Swindon town centre.

A youth approached her in Edgware Road and tried to snatch her handbag.

She said: "I don't feel safe in town now, I don't know if I ever will again.

"I don't want to let them beat me but I think he has. Just thinking about it makes me shake like a leaf."

Mrs Miller, of Toothill, was also mugged three years ago when she going home from a class at the Link Centre.

She said: "It brought it all back to me. Why me?

"What right has he got to stop me going into town? He has taken my life away."

Mrs Miller, who has asthma and arthritis in her knees, says it will be a long time before she gets over her ordeal.

"I've got friends trying to get me through it but it's hurting," she said.

Mrs Miller managed to hold on to her bag despite the strap snapping.

"I didn't let go," she said. "I think he thought I was an easy target when he saw the wheelchair and thought here's someone that won't fight back. But I'm a Scot and he didn't realise how determined I was not to let him have my bag."

The suspect is described as male, of mixed race, 5ft 10in tall, 16 to 17 years old, slim build, short black hair with an inch long scar on his left cheek.

He was wearing baggy blue jeans and a beige sweatshirt. Anyone with information about either incident should call 01793 528111 or 0800 555111.

David Andrew