Mugger proves no match for disabled teen who fought him off as he tried to snatch cash

A cashpoint mugger who tried to snatch £20 from the hands of a disabled teenage girl has been jailed after she managed to fight him off and passers-by pinned him down.

Thief Milan Bugala, aged 51, targeted Megan Luscombe as she withdrew money from a cashpoint near her college in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The 18-year-old, who has genetic muscle-wasting disease Friedreich Ataxia and had to use a wheelchair, had been shopping for shoes and a handbag for a ball at the nearby National Star College where she studies.

She said she had not realised he had been standing so close behind her and initially thought he was trying to help.

When she realised what he was doing, she said, she screamed and told him to stop, managing to snatch back one of the £10 notes and half of the other before two women came to her aid.

One of the women pushed the thief into a nearby nightclub doorway, before taking a picture of him on her mobile phone and calling police, while the other comforted Megan.

The brave art and design student, from Downend in Bristol, thanked the people who helped catch the crook.

Bugala, of no fixed address, was convicted of theft at Cheltenham Magistrates Court last month and was jailed for 18 weeks. He was also given a further four weeks for breaching a suspended sentence for an unrelated offence.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman praised Megan's "courageous" actions - but warned against tackling thieves personally as a general rule.