A YOUNG mum is living in fear after thugs threatened to harm her three-month-old baby girl during a robbery.

Abigail Paginton, 19, was walking to Nythe from her mother's house in Park North when three men attacked her.

They demanded money and said they would hurt baby Kirsty unless Abigail handed over her purse.

They eventually ran off after taking Miss Paginton's purse from her pocket. The purse contained £15 and three milk tokens worth £6 each.

But her real ordeal was only just beginning.

Since the attack Miss Paginton, a single mum, has been too frightened to leave her flat alone and is terrified of strangers.

She told the Advertiser that she has not slept properly since.

"It keeps going round in my head and I cannot stop thinking about what they might have done to my baby," she said.

Last Thursday started as any other for Miss Paginton who is struggling to bring her daughter up alone.

She washed and bathed her baby and spent the rest of the day cleaning her flat before deciding to visit her mother in nearby Park North at about 5.30pm.

Miss Paginton had made the 10-minute journey up to five times a week since moving to Nythe two months ago.

At about 7.15pm she left for home, insisting that her mother Julie Haynes need not give her a lift.

Miss Paginton said: "It's such a short distance I wasn't worried and mum always gives me a lift home so I told her to put her feet up instead."

Pushing Kirsty's red and white pram, Miss Paginton stopped at a shop in Welcombe Avenue to pick up some groceries.

Then she headed down the alley between Marlowe Avenue and Park North.

About half way down the men jumped Miss Paginton from behind.

She said: "I didn't even hear them coming then all of a sudden they were there. I thought it was a joke at first."

One man jumped in front of the pram while the other two stood either side of her.

Much of what happened next is a blur but Miss Paginton said her heart almost stopped when the man in front of her peered into the pram.

"He knew the baby was a girl because of her pink jacket and then he said something about her. That's when I realised they were threatening her.

"It is sick that somebody could do that to a defenceless little baby."

Miss Paginton ran back to her flat and called her mother before ringing the police.

That is when the terror really started to sink in.

"It really hit me then and I could not stop shaking. Things will never be the same now," she said.

Now Miss Paginton is chaperoned by her brother Chris, 19 or her mother wherever she goes.

The ordeal has also stirred memories of an earlier assault when she was just 16.

Waiting at a bus stop in Upham Road, Miss Paginton was approached by a man who put his hand on her knee.

She ran from the bus stop but the man followed and tried to drag her from the main road.

Miss Paginton used her house keys to stab the man in the hand.

He ran off but was never caught.

"I just hope these men are caught before they threaten another baby," she said of her latest attackers.

Police spokeswoman, Alvina Kumar, said: "We believe that this youth and his accomplices are local to the area and that their despicable actions will prey on someone's conscience.

"If you recognise this youth or have any information then please contact us and let us check out your suspicions.

"Witnesses are asked to contact DC Steve Rivers on 528111 or Crimestoppers.

* The man shown in the photo was wearing a dark fleece with a hood and dark trousers. He is thought to be about 6ft tall and in his late teens or early twenties.