A man who snatched the phone of a 34-year-old woman who was returning from her birthday party, has been jailed for 14 months.

Narinder Singh, of no fixed abode, took the phone from a woman on a train passing through Seven Kings station, High Road, Seven Kings.

The woman from Romford was robbed at about 10.40pm on December 10.

He was jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Snaresbrook on Tuesday and will be deported to India after serving his sentence.

On CCTV, Singh can be seen loitering behind her before taking the iPhone she was using before running off the train. He later tripped as he ran along the platform to the station exit and hit his head on the banister of the stairs.

He then ran out of the station exit on to Cameron Road.

British Transport Police were able to get DNA evidence from blood left where Singh had hit his head and he was arrested in February and charged with robbery.

Det Con Gary Wildman, the investigating officer, said: “Frightening offences such as this are very rare on the rail network but, when they do occur, they are treated with the utmost seriousness.

“In this case, we were able to identify the culprit with excellent CCTV footage of the incident and clear evidence left at the scene.”